Fixing the past
by lp24
Summary: Hiccup went too far trying to prove himself a viking, and the consequences were worst than what he ever imagined. Now he must fix it any way he can-even if it includes trying to build a time-machine. More on first chap AN
1. Alternatives

**A/N** : Welcome to this story, i hope you like it.

I dont own the story, i will say this only once, no point in repeating.

I would like to say this is my first story, and Im not english, so it might have some errors-ill be gratefull if you point them out in a nice way-i dont mind bad reviews, just be constructive, no hate.

I read many fanfictions about this movie, so its normal if somewhere feels like im copying-im trying my best to stay original, while at the same time remaining close to the movie universe. It will have some spoilers from both movies and series.

About the story itself (contains spoilers): its more like a combination of 2 storys, first will have a bit of Hiccstrid and it will include character deaths, but they will still show up later due to diferent timelines. the first part of this chapter is the "2nd story", while the last part of this chapter will be the one i will continue for about 8 more chapters). story will have happy ending, and it will be heathercup (romance will not be a huge part of the story though). It will have many cannon elements, but i will change how i see fit for my story. I will accept suggestions if i like them and i can fit in the story, but my decision obviously is final.

For those die-hard hiccstrid fans: this story is not for you. I wont villanise Astrid, but she is a viking, a hot-tempered one at that, and she will act as such.

About updates: it will depend mostly on the size of the chapter, i have the main plot planned, but not the details and how i will write it. i will try to update weekly, follows/favorites/reviews go a long way to speed up the updates though, the more people like the story, the more i like to write it.

Without more delay:

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Alternatives**

A viking stood in front of a black dragon with piercing green eyes, the infamous nightfury. In most situations, the viking would charge at the " _beast"_ , and the nightfury, being a nightfury, would have no problem killing even the fiercest warrior.

But this was no ordinary situation. The viking was nothing but a small boy with auburn hair and intelligent green eyes. Now, this information doesn't look much better for the viking, but truth be told, what the boy lacked in muscle (not that he didn't have any, after working for so long in a forge), he had in brains. And that meant that the said boy had invented a bola-launcher that had downed the dragon none had even seen before.

"I'm going to kill you dragon. Then, I'm going to cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a viking. A viking!"

However, we already established that this isn't a ordinary situation. Any other viking, the dragon would be dead already, but the boy hesitated when looking at mirroring green eyes, as looking at his own soul. Determined to gain the long-lost approval of the village, he closed his eyes to shut down his insecurities, and got ready to strike.

Fortunately, the oddity of the situation struck once more when an explosion threw him harmlessly to the dragon, seeing black before really seing black.

* * *

A not so fortunate Hiccup had been searching the woods alone (not that alone was unusual for him) for hours, looking for the dragon he had shot. No one actually believed that he had, they were vikings, they never listened, and specially not to him. The worst of them was his father, the large village chief with a big read beard, where all of the conversations were very one-sided.

He tried so hard to be one of them, but the village just took advantage of the scrawny boy to blame for everything that went wrong. Yes, he was clumsy, and with his luck he often got into trouble. But was it truly his fault a dragon set fire to a torch when he was just trying not to get killed? Aparently, it didn't matter since he didn't even get a chance to speak(not that it would do much good either way). The Thorston twins often caused destruction _on purpose_ , but it seemed no one cared, he never understood the double-standards.

He wondered if it would be Snoutlout to take over the village when the time came. Strong, but incredibly stupid (all-in-all, a good viking) the village would be certainly doomed. Fishlegs would be better, but while smart and well-built, the blond lacked determination. He reckoned the best would be Astrid. She was also small, but strong, fast, smart and determined. A good way for her to be chief was an arranged marriage, half of his brain said. But the other part still dreaded that idea, yes, she was beautifull, but with her huge temper and angry-management issues it would be a nightmare for him, since he knew marrying him would be sure to bring out the anger in her, as she wanted to be a shield-maiden.

That wasn't the first time those thoughts passed trough his head, so he put them aside for the current mission of finding the most elusive of dragon, his way of being able to change it all, maybe he could redeem himself today. That is, as soon as the gods would decide to stop playing hide and seek with him.

"Oh, the Gods hate me. Some people loose they knife, or their mug. Not me, I managed to loose an entire dragon!"

Frustated, the young viking hits a branch that was in the way, his response being hit by the recoil. As he looks up, however, he notices the unnaturally broken tree that the branch belongs to, as well as the path those broken trees take. The boy easily follows the trail, until he notices the ebony animal he was looking for. He instantly hides behind a large stone and his heart speeds up, with both excitement and fear.

Hiccup slowly peeks at the dragon, the unholy offspring of lighting and death itself. As it seems to be unable to move, he approaches with caution. At least how much caution a scrawny boy armed with only a dagger can have when dealing with one of the fiercest species of dragons, which is not saying much, if the dragon freed himself, there would be nothing he could do.

"Oh, I did it! Yes, fixes everything!"

The dragon suddenly moves and he takes a couple of steps back, but the dragon is indeed immobilized. He reaches for his dagger, and looks at the dragon's eyes. Hiccup quickly realizes it isn't a good idea though, it reminded him to much of himself. So he closes his eyes, raises the dagger...

And strikes!


	2. Witness

**Chapter 2: Witness**

Hiccup looked at his crimson hands, and the food in his stomach somehow found the way up, so he quickly left for the village, there was no way he would be able to cut out the heart.

Nearing the Hall, Stoick's voice was heard trough the doors.

"Those who stay, will look after Hiccup!"

The door were open and before anyone else would answer, Hiccup himself responded.

"Wow, you can feel the love."

"I told you to go to the house!" Angry, Stoick didn't even realize the lad's hurt. Not that he usually did.

"I did. You didn't say how long I had to stay there."

The young viking realized this wasn't going well, he was here to fix things, not to damage them even more.

"The reason I came here, it's because I killed the Nightfury I said I shot, for once in your life, can you please listen to me?"

Laugh was heard among the hall. All but two viking. His father, Stoick, was red from anger. He still didn't believe his son.

"Get out of here!"

He was hurt. He was used to it by now, but it still hurt, even more when it was his father or _her_. Seeing no point in talking to _Stoick_ , Hiccup looks at Gobber. His _real_ father. The one-legged one-armed blacksmith raised him, he taught him and took care of him, and even listened... occasionaly.

Gobber was of course looking at him, all the vikings were. The young lad could see clearly Gobber believed him, but wouldn't go against his chief.

"You will regret this."

And he quickly left the Hall. He was in no way plotting revenge. But when the truth would come around, he was sure his father would feel guilty. And he _would_ prolong that feeling once it came.

Thinking of solutions to his problem that didn't involve cutting dragon's body parts, he figured he needed a witness, someone who the other vikings could trust and that he could talk to at the same time, with an actual chance of being heard. Choices really diminished on that last condition.

Gobber was the first person in his mind, but there was no way he would return to the Hall. Fishlegs was the second, the large teen was his only _semi_ -friend, and he was also moderately respected. Problem was, he didn't want to subject Fishlegs to the bullying that usually came from hanging around with him. The twins would probably not even follow him, and if they did, the other vikings would just figure it was some kind of prank. Snotlout just meant getting punched in the face before he could get a word out. Astrid it was... though the risk of getting hit by an axe was fairly great, she might listen... and _maybe_ for the chance to show off.

Swalling the knot in his throat for the not-so-friendly encounter he was sure he would have, he went to find Astrid on her favorite training spot.

* * *

 _"ZHAAAZ"_ , a couple of inches away from his face was a axe buried in a tree, it's owner not far away.

 _Maybe I should have gone with Snoutlout, a fist is better than an axe, specially an axe I made_ -he thought.

"Well, that could have been worse."

"Hiccup? What the hell are you doing here? I could have _killed_ you! And then your fater would kill _me_!" Astrid yelled at him.

 _Great, she doesnt care if i die, only if she isnt the one to kill me because of my father. Maybe this wasn't a very good idea._

"I'm sure he would just thank you, and nice to see you too."

"What are you doing here?" She continued, a bit taken aback by his response, but clearly still angry.

"Um... I..."

"Spit it out!"

"I... Ineedyourhelp."

"What?"

He took a deep breath.

"I need your help."

"My help? Why would _I_ help _you_? You were finding you didn't do enough destruction alone?"

 _Looks like sarcasm is spreading._ He didn't dare to say that out loud.

"I... Look remember the last raid?"

"Right, the one which you screwed up, _again_ , what about it?"

Hiccup sighted, Astrid usually just ignored him, if she said something, it was because he _really_ had screwed up. But then again, he was the one who had gone to talk to her the day just after the raid.

"Yeah... I'm sorry about that. Thing is, I actually hit the Nightfury. I found it and killed it, and no one listens.

"What makes you think that _I_ listen? Assuming you were actually capable of killing it, you could just cut out his heart for prove, like a normal viking."

He had to try hard not to throw up at that image, but also diminished a little his anger for his father, there was no _viking_ reason not to have brought evidence.

"Please Astrid - what would I possibly gain by making this up?"

The female warrior pondered for a moment. He did have a point, she would be sure to make him pay if he was deceiving her. Though he hadn't answered her last question. She guessed she could allow that... at the moment.

"You do know the consequences if you're lying to me?"

"Not really, but I can say it won't be pleasant."

"What would I have to do with anything anyway?"

"I... I was thinking you could come with me to the dragon as a witness. If you tell my father, he will believe in you."

She sighed, seeing her training ruined.

"Ok, lets go. But fast, I dont have all day." The blonde said, picking up her axe from the tree. She proceeded punching him in the shoulder. Not very strong, but he was sure it would leave a bruise. What he didn't know, the bruise would actually mean good things in the near future.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Ruining my training session."

Hiccup quickly retraced his previous steps to the dragon. When the dragon finally came in sight, Astrid was speechless, for the first time in her life.

They just stood there for a while, Astrid admiring the fallen black beast. The way Hiccup wasn't looking at the dragon and the ground next to the dragon did answer her previous question, even though a new one arose. _Why would he be feeling guilty of killing a dragon?_

As he was looking away, he never saw another punch coming.

"Thats for messing up the raid."

"Is it always going to be like this? 'Cause I..."

Astrid quicgkly rabbed his colar and placed a kiss in his cheek, effectively silencing him.

"That's for... everything else."

The guilty thoughts flew away and were replaced by a good feeling of acomplishment, followed by no thoughts at all, so as she started heading back to the village, he just stood there.

"You coming?"

Hiccup was too busy trying to pick up the pieces of his brain he was sure Astrid has just broken to be able to answer. Instead, he followed her in silence.

The village finally came into view.


	3. Viking?

**Chapter 3: Viking?**

As soon as they were in the village, the young pair easily spotted the chief, Stoick standed out even among other vikings. But the village also looked at them. For those two to be together, something was off, specially if they just walked out of the forest alone with Hiccup in one piece.

As they walked towards the chief, Snoutlout decided to show up.

"Hey babe, what are you doing with useless over there? I'm sure you'd rather spend time practising with me." He said with a arrogant grin, making a pose to show off his muscles. That pose quickly broke as a fist came in touch with his face and he met the ground.

"Useless!?" She yelled

The village went silent. Something was definitly wrong. Why would Astrid Hofferson, best warrior of her generation, defending the village runt? Answer came quickly.

"I want to see _you_ killing a _Nightfury!_ What do youdo besides trying to show off?"

She was interrupted by Stoic's voice.

"Is that true? Did he really kill the Nightfury?"

She nodded, and Stoick turned to his son... who was nowhere to be found. One of the advantages of being ignored, is that you can get away unseen. He turned to Astrid again with a sight.

"Can you take us to the dragon?"

She nodded again, and so Stoick, telling five other people to go with him, were took to the dragon, to drag him to the village.

* * *

Sitting on his backroom in the forge, Hiccup saw as the people gathered in the Hall for a feast, he was sure that it was because of the Nightfury since there wasn't anything else important going on. He knew his father would be upset for him not showing up, specially since he guessed he was the guest of honor, but he didn't really cared. At least untill he saw a blonde young woman exiting the Hall.

"H-Hey Astrid..."

"Hey."

"I...just wanted to say thanks." Astrid smiles.

 _Astrid smiling? And to me? Somethings wrong._

A punch in the shoulder later...

 _Ok, back to normal._

"Thats for leaving earlier."

*punch*

"Thats for not showing up at your party."

*punch*

And thats for following me!

"Ow, why is it always violence with you?"

"It's not violence, its communication."

She grinns and quickly grabs his tunic again and kisses him on the cheek.

"And thats for... following me." Astrid says, going to her house, leaving Hiccup to the mercy of his father, who unkown to them had been watching.

"Son! We need to talk. In the house."

Hiccup sights, he was hoping to spend the night at the forge again, but follows his father to the house. Stoick makes a motion for Hiccup to sit on the table, then goingg to his room, returning a couple of seconds later with a helmet in his hand and a grin on his face.

"You really had me going there, son. All these years as the worst viking Berk had ever seen! Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you! And all the while, you were holding out on me! Thor almighty! "

Hiccup flinched. Did his father really think so bad of him?

"Now that you've killed a Nightfury, _a_ _Nightfury!_ , we have finally something to talk about!

"..."

"I... I've brought you something." Stoic says, giving the young viking a horned helmet.

"Your mother would have wanted you to have it. Its half of her breast plate. Keeps her close, you know...?"

"Wow, thanks dad"

"Wear it proudly, you deserve it."

Somehow, Hiccup felt he didn't. Trying to end the awkward conversation, he fakes a yawn.

"I should really get to bed..."

"Of course, big day tomorrow. Tomorrow we are going to start with weapon training." The large man states, beaming with pride.

"We are?"

"Yes. You don't need to go to dragon training since you shot the nightfury. However, you still need to learn how to fight. For this week I will be teaching you myself. Then we will go on another search for the devil's nest, so you will have to train with someone else. Maybe ask Astrid." Stoic suggested, winking at him.

"Yeah, sure..." Though he wasn't really sure. He didn't want to ruin the chance the Nightfury had given him with a poor show of fighting skills. Maybe the first week would help?

"Ok, go to sleep, you need your rest."

"Good talk, I'll just go... yeah." The young boy says leaving for his room.

The chief went back into the Hall, but a while later, a small viking could be seen walking through the woods.

He couldn't sleep, and left the house for a nocturnal walk, not thinking where he was going. Soon, he found himself in the same place where he had "become a viking".

 _Did I really do the right thing? He was defenseless, its not like I was protecting myself like they do during the raids._ They? Sure, he never killed a dragon in a raid, but he was refering to his people. _The worst viking Berk has ever seen_. Wasn't he?

He just walked back and went to bed, even if he couldn't sleep.


	4. Training

**Chapter 4: Training**

The first week passed quickly. Between training with his father and working in the forge, Hiccup didn't have any time for himself. And his constant nightmares filled with green eyes didn't help.

The meals were the only time he spent with everyone else. He went to the Hall to eat, which inevitably meant being close to the rest of the village, and he couldn't skip means when he was training as hard as he was. It just felt _wrong_ being around them. They acted like the passed didn't exist and they had always acted friendly towards him. The teens specially, insisted in eating with him, as if they had been buddies instead of bullies. And that meant he ate quickly, sparing only a couple of words to Fishlegs or Astrid, and quickly leave.

Working at the forge had been more exciting than usual. Since his latest contraption had worked, his father decided to let him test his inventions, as long as it was far away from the village.

As for the training, it started awfull. They trained bow and sword, axe was too heavy for him and relied to much on force. He could clearly see the disappointment in his father face. At least Astrid wasn't there to watch him in his first week. When he would train with her later, at least he would be a bit better. At least that was what he wished he could say, but after asking her for help with the training next week, she insisted in watching par of his training everyday. She claimed it was for her to know where to start next week-but the young lad saw the blonde's amused face with his poor performance.

By the middle of the week he at least could pull the string of the bow enough for a good shot, even if his aim was a little off. He could also trade a couple of blows without letting go of the sword, but the sword still got too heavy to soon.

At the end of the week, he already hit the target, but rarely bullseye, and took too long to reload and aim. His stamina had greatly improved, but it was far from good. He also mastered the basic sword moves, but the complex ones still eluded him.

The time came when his father had to leave for the nest search, though. They were training, he had been improving and his father had been patient for once, but among all the hard work and disaproving looks, it was hard to build a better relationship. Even if training meant at least he cared now.

"Train hard. I'll be back. Probably."

"And I'll be here. Maybe"

* * *

The next few weeks were one of the best of his life. He still had nightmares, but not every night. And with his father gone, and with Gobber training the recruits, he had lots of time to himself. Molden steel, razor sharp blades, and his tinkering mind, lots of inventions came to life, even if only half of them worked. Some trees were completly destroyed, luckly he obeyed his father for once and tested the invetions in the forest. That didn't mean he didn't get a couple of burns, but when you're a blacksmith, it really is an occupasional hazzard.

He had somewhat grown used to the village, though he still struggled with the past, it was hard to let go when no one recognized that that past existed.

Training with Astrid was hard. He enjoyed his steady improvement, made him feel more confident and capable, and spending alone time with a sweaty Astrid was definitly a bonus. Not that ever did anything other than training, in fact, those initial punch-kiss he had come to enjoy stopped before they even began. Still, they talked as they sparred, and landed on top of each other a couple of times, each one enough to make him blush, seemingly not taking any efect on the blonde, though seemingly is really the right word, for as the weeks passed with them spending time alone each day, they inevitably grew closer. Hiccup eventually became a good warrior under Astrid's supervision, and Astrid herself was clearly the best recruit in dragon training.

The downside? There was a time limite when his father returned. The worse part of the downside? He might not even return. But as they were one day away from choosing who would face the Nightmare, a single ship was on sight.

* * *

"I trust you found the nest, at least?"

"Not even close"

"Ah, excelent..."

"How's Hiccup?" Stoic finally asked.

"A couple of burns from the forge, a couple of bruises from training, all in all, he's doing quite good."

"Good. What about dragon training?"

"We are choosing the best recruit tomorrow, but everyone knows it will be Astrid."

"Aye, she is a good lass."

Little did they know, that night would change a lot of things.


	5. Valkyrie

**A/N** Well, im sorry for skipping those training weeks, maybe ill do a one-shot with it later for the hiccstrid shippers, as a sorry for this chapter. warning: angst for the next couple of chapters.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Valkyrie**

Dragon Raid!

Hiccup woke up with the sound of the bell signaling another raid. He quickly got ready to go to the forge as usual, but then remembered he was now expected to fight the dragons too. That thought terrified him, he still had nightmares about the last dragon he killed. Maybe being in a battle instead of killing a defensless dragon would help. And he certainly wouldn't look to their eyes. He took his sword and went outside, though trying to stay out of sight of both dragons and men alike, wouldn't look very good if the boy who killed the Nightfury would hide during the raids.

That didn't last long. Soon, the boy saw a blonde warrior fighting a gronkle, and tried to hurry to her side. But he didn't get close enough before the dragon itself had backup. All his green eyes could do was stare terrified as a Nadder spine made its way to the girl chest, almost in slow motion, but way to quick at the same time.

In an outburst of rage, he rose his sword and rushed to the two dragons at the same time. He saw the tail of the Nadder get ready to shot again, and he rolled out of the way, and then swing his sword down the creatures neck.

Turning to the Gronkle, the first thing he saw was the eyes, the thing he said he wouldn't do. But they seemed different somehow, almost as if the dragon was possessed. Moving again, he took the fallen warrior's shield to protect himself from the hot projectile, but he wasn't ready for the dragon's tail on his shield that followed, sending him back against the wall. Before he got up, his father showed and took care of the beast with a strong swing of the axe.

The immediate threat taken care of, the young lad droped his sword and the shield, and hurried to the body laying on the ground.

"Astrid, don't worry, everything is going to be ok." But they both knew he was lying, if the injury itself wasn't enough, the poison would. A single tear was rolling down his cheek.

She punched him, and the lack of strengh did nothing to calm his worries. The hand followed to his neck, pulling him down for one last kiss, this one on the lips, and he couldn't care less about the way the blood in his neck. They stayed together for a couple of seconds, both enjoying the one last kiss while it lasted, until he realized he wasn't kissing him back anymore. The hand on his neck had gone limp and he carefully removed it, and rested it on her chest, though there was no need to close her eyes, the sign of her final act before joining Valhalla, and more tears were joining the face of the boy holding her.

"I love you, I always have, may you find peace until I join you, Milady." he whispered to the montionless body, trying to fight the flood of tears unsuccessfully while hugging her aggainst him, even as the spike bruised his own chest.

He doesn't know how much time he spent like that, could have feen a few seconds, a few minutes or even a few hours, when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned around to see his dad. Vikings didn't cry, one more proof he wasn't a Viking, but this time his dad was only sad, with a bit of pity, instead of disapointment. He failed to protect her, why was it the time he deserved it, he didn't get it!? Ready to snap out of pure anger, he took a couple of deep breaths to try to calm himself.

"Im sorry, son. Try to get some rest, tomorrow at dawn we'll send the boat with the fallen."

Hiccup looked at her axe, the axe he had made, and couldn't help the felling return that it was him that failed to protect her. What if he hadn't hidden in the beggining of the raid, what if he had made a better axe? But nothing if would bring her back. He slowly get up, and noticed the raid was over, however, he ignored his father advice, roaming through the village, finishing every downed or trapped dragon he was able to see, to then spen the night awake all night, mourning of what could have been, and planning his revenge on the dragons.

Stoic saw as his son's face flash from guilt, to sorrow, to fury and rage with a dark determination that he would never admit that scared him, but it did. He remembered himself with the same face when Val was taken, and it had lead to nothing good. So when in the morning before the funeral his son went to speak with him about getting revenge, it couldn't be good. But how could he deny it when it was something so big?

 _"Dad, ready the boats when we're done." Stoick had said nothing, but furrowed his brow at the order, he was the chief and his father. But then came the rest. "For Helheim's Gate."_

* * *

"May the Valkyries welcome you, and lead you through Odin's great battlefield. May they sing your names with love and fury, so that we might hear it rise from the heights of Valhalla... and know that you've taken your rightful place at the table of kings. For many Viking have fallen. Warriors. And friends."

As the chief, Stoick shoot the flaming arrow first, quickly followed by everyone else present.

When Hiccup learned from his own valkyrie how to shoot, he never expected to be firing a flaming arrow at her, but he was again gratefull to her, as he was at least be able to participate in the ritual which he had never atended before, even if he was the heir. Mostly because he couldn't shoot the arrow, but also because he didn't really know anyone. Now it had changed. And it will end.


	6. Alone

**Chapter 6: Alone**

 _"For Helheim's Gate"_

Stoic saw his son determined look as Hiccup spoke those words, and he had no doubt that the young boy meant it. But how could that be? Did his son know something he didn't? How long had he known how to find the nest? Then it struck him that he probably only thought about it after the disastrous raid.

The lad was now a capable fighter, but could they have found the nest sooner if they had payed more attention to _him_ instead of blindly telling him to change? First, a Nightfury, if he could also find the nest... Well, the village definitly owed him a big apology, maybe scrawny and different was just what the village needed... maybe, who knows?

Lost in his own thoughts, he seemed to forget the thin boy next to him.

"Dad?"

Hiccup brought him back to reality.

"How?"

A dark grin appeared in Hiccup's face while he spoke. After that, Hiccup left for the arena while Stoic summoned a meeting.

Glad and pround behind words, he never thought he would miss the the sweet, sarcastic boy, but in truth, he did. But he never showed that he cared for him, and now it was gone, the creativity and hapiness behind those green orbs had been replace by revenge and madness, and he didn't like it one bit.

* * *

A young man was tying a Terrible Terror to the mast of the main ship, trying to forget the massacre in the arena when he let all the dragons out at once but the Terror he was currently holding, downing them fulled by fury, without suffering a scratch. Ok, maybe he had a large wound across his chest, but he payed no attention to it. It left the village without dragons to train themselves against, but he was certain it wouldn't be necessary anymore. He just didn't know how right he was.

It was the biggest expedition so far, only the very old and the young were left behind. It would be the last clash between the two races. It ended now, and the fear was palpable behind the steel determination of the warriors. The teens were there too, they didn't oficially completed the training, but they were close enough, and after Astrid, he doubted they would be accept being left behind.

 _Astrid._ His heart still clenched at the word, and his reaction was a look so grim it could kill a dragon. And truthfully, it had.

* * *

He woke up coughing and shaking, trying to get the water out of his system. Shaking both from the cold and from the nighmare he had. But this time it wasn't intelligent green eyes staring at him, it was a moutain sized beast destroying his whole village. He looked around and saw a couple of debris in the water, and he recognized nothing to the center of the island. Had it been just a nightmare? He tried to remember what had happened, but all he got was a headache, so he went back to sleep.

A couple of hours later, with a clearer head, he started fearing hypothermia, but with the memories rushing back, he didn't have will to move, he just stood still and cried. His plan had worked, so it was his fault. The only time he didn't want to be right, he had been. When all dragons just fled, vikings celebrating the victory, he knew something was terribly wrong. He just didn't expect _that_. I definitly wasn't a nightmare.

He failed _her_. His _father_ was dead. The _entire village_ was dead. And he was alone.

 _Because of me_. _They were right from the start, I couldn't stop until my ideas destroyed the entire village. Why couldn't the Gods have killed me too? Did they hate me that much to leave me here alone?_

Lacking the will to get up, he just stood there, crying and regretting every choice he ever made, though somehow it all came back to one pair of shining green eyes. Unbeknown to him, two paires of eyes were watching him, he wasn't completly alone... for now.

* * *

 **A/N** : I was going to make this sadder... then figured it was already enough. Also, two chaps to turning point. And yes, I skipped the fighting scene, probably going to be another one-shot along with the training.


	7. Truths

**Chapter 7: Truths**

She watched as the figure on the beach didn't move. She saw his face, she could tell it was a dragon-killer. But his features, his auburn hair and green eyes seemed almost familiar, as... No, she wouldn't think about it. Nevertheless, the resemblance was enough that she couldn't just stand by and watch him die. Another pair of eyes moved closer to her, starting distrustfully at the boy.

"Cloudjumper, stay hidden, I'll take him to the camp, but I don't want him to finding out about you."

The StormCutter huffed, clearly not liking the plan.

"I'll be fine, you worry too much." She tenderly patted the dragon on the neck and started moving to the stranger on the beach.

* * *

He was startled when a masked figure appeared next to him. He quickly surveyed the situation. He was in no condition to fight, weak, and weaponless. And the figure didn't seem threatening, so for now, he would see what it wanted. Later, if fighting was necessary, the stranger had a staff as a weapon, but didn't seem very strong.

"Come."

He heard, before seeing it starting to move away. Talking, sure. Following a unknown person to the woods? A bit of a leap of faith. Still, he didn't know what to do. It's not like he could do much, and the strange stranger was starting to make him curious.

"Come."

He heard again. Not knowing what else he could do, and curiosity getting the better of him, the small viking slowly rose, the little exercise enough for him to feel the lack of food and water in his system. Soon they arrived at some sort of camp, and he not very gracefully let himself fall to floor. He saw footprints that in his right mind would no doubt belong to a dragon, but he was to tired to think of it, and to grateful when he saw a bowl with water being handed to him. While the viking drank, the stranger had took of the mask, and was cooking some fish.

A woman with autumn hair and green eyes stared back at him, but they ate in silence for a while, his head turning and turning with the events of the last day. _Who was she? What did she want?_ He had no way of knowing. So he tried to think again about the battle of the day before, with less pain and more analytically. The more he thought, the more he realized.

The dragons had _fled_ from the fight. And from the size of that thing, it must require a lot of food. Images of the raids flashed through his mind. He never saw them eat the food, they took it. Somehow the huge dragon made the smaller dragons bring it food. Were the dragons forced to fight? Were they inocent? _No_ , a beautifull blonde face told him. But nobody was inocent in a war.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a familiar voice he didn't recognize, saying something he wasn't able to undertand, as he wasn't paying attention.

"What?"

She slightly smiled, and asked again."What's your name?

"Hiccup ..."

Before he could continue, the woman choked on the fish. Hiccup went closer to pat her on the back. She quickly recovered, and the young viking could feel her gaze on his face, paying special attention to the freckles in the chin, where a small white scar could be seen.

"Hiccup?"

"Should I... Should I know you?"

"No... You were only a babe... But a mother never forgets."

If he was eating, he was sure it would have been his turn to choke.

"You're my _mother_?"

She nods with a grin on her face.

"Do you even grasp how insane that sounds? Where have you been all this time? They said you were dead. That you've been eaten by..."

The young viking was interrupted by a dragon landing right behind the woman. _His mother_.

"A dragon..." He ended, almost whispering. His body was telling him to run. But his mind was putting the pieces together. Like the fact that his mother seemed perfectly at easy so close to the dragon. He didn't know what to do, he wished he had his weapon, in case it was necessary. Luckly for him, he didn't, it might have complicated a few things. The fact that the dragon was growling did nothing to calm him, but he wasn't shooting, at least that was a good.

"Calm down, both of you! Hiccup, CloudJumper. CloudJumper, Hiccup."

A look of disgust found its way to Hiccup's face, which in turn made her respond with a hurt look on her own. Truth be told, it was less about the dragon itself, more about...

"So, that's where you've been for 15 years!? You chose dragons over your own family, never coming back!?"

"I couldn't just return and seem them slaughter the dragons!"

"You could have tried to stop the war!"

The shouting wasn't helping, and she took a deep breath.

"Berk was a land of kill or be killed, but I had always wanted to stop the war. It was a very unpopular opinion. One night, I found CloudJumper in the room with you. I grabbed my sword to defend you, but what I saw was proof of everything I believed in. They weren't mindless killers, but gentle creatures whose soul reflected my own. By that time, Stoic apeared, you know how he is, and just atacked. I don't know if he thought we were both in danger or just thought I belonged here, but he just grabbed me and flew away. He never intended to kill me. But after seeing the truth, I couldn't see my son raised to be another dragon killer. I guess that didn't work out so well."

"But now you had proof! There could have been peace, and you choose hide!"

"There can't be peace. Viking are too stuburn, and dragon will always atack, they have to. In their nest there's a huge dragon, and if they don't take enough food, they will be eaten themselves. The night where I was taken we went to the Queen's nest first, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but then everything made sense. The huge dragon atacked us, and Cloudjumper fled, until we finally found a safe place here with the Bewilderbeast, the king of all dragons."

He listened to her. He wanted to shout, and scream she had doomed everyone by withholding the truth. But truth is, it couldn't blame everyone but himself for taking everyone there. And if his father knew a way to the nest sooner, sooner the village would have been destroyed. And he thought back to _that_ night. The Nadder protected the Gronkle. It wasn't a murder, it was a rescue, as painful as it was to admit it.

He fought to keep the tears from his face.

"I... I saw it too..."

"You dont mean...?"

He told her everything that had happened from the moment he shot down the Nightfury. By the time he ended, they were embrancing each other, lots of emotions under the skin, and not good ones, pain, sadness, sorrow, grief, regret, guilt...

"Hiccup, you didn't know."

"It was still my fault."

"No, it wasn't!"

"Who led them there?"

"... The Queen."

"What?"

"The Queen commanded the atacks. The Queen killed the tribe. And it was the Queen who controlled the Terror, in fact leading you there."

"I... Thanks..." He gave a very week smile, but it was all he could do for now.

Val didn't know what else to say. Instead, she got atop of CloudJumper and extended an arm to Hiccup.

The small viking looked at her with disbelief.

"Come. It always makes me feel better, I think it will help you too."

He took a step closer and the dragon growled at him. She patted the dragon and it seemed to relax a bit.

Hiccup slowly and carefully joined her, resting his arm around her waist.

"CloudJumper, up. Slowly..." Hiccup didn't see the mischevious grin of the dragon as it took off...


	8. 20 years

**Chapter 8: 20 years**

20 years. 20 long years. 20 years since they _all_ died. 20 years since he saw _her_ die. 20 years since he found a way to lead his entire tribe to death. 20 years since he found his lost mother, 20 years since his magical flight with her, and 20 years since he lost her again at the hands of Drago. 20 years of nightmares every single night, in the few hours he managed to sleep.

20 years since he returned to Berk, to find it in control of the Bersekers, lead by a woman named Heather. The raids had stopped, he figured Drago had also destroyed the other nest. What became of him after, no one knew. Luckly, Heather was kind enough to let him become the village smith after his return without asking to many questions, and also let the young and elder who managed to live through the hunger stay and be fed. Kindness enough to spark something that he was sure it had been killed and buried way to deep to resurface, but it did.

So it was also 20 years since he saw the only face that would make Astrid's face fade away. Dagur's sister, with beautifull black hair and green eyes who reminded him the first of all his mistakes. She, who had been prisioner of the Outcasts, but managed to escape herself, and though with a hunger for vengeance, after satiated, remained a kind woman through the years.

In normal circumstances it would have been hard, she was beautifull and the chief, and he was only a blacksmith, and a very week viking. He had grown, tall and strong, but still slim and clumsy. But his gut-wrenching guilt made aproaching her impossible. For that matter, it made aproaching everyone impossible. He ate alone, he worked alone, and he received and returned the best weaponsin the Archephilego with just a few words.

For some reason, she insisted on trying to talk to him while he repaired her axe, but it was very one-sided, even if every fiber of his being wanted to take part on the intelligent conversations she would bring, his guilty mind would stop him every time he found himself talking enthusiastically about something.

It was also 20 years since he decided he didn't want to live, but he wouldn't take the coward way out, but atone for his sins. And as as he decided that since he would live, he decided he might as well try to do anything to fix the unfixable. Bringing back the dead would be witchcraft, and he was no wizard, but an engineer. So he would build himself a time machine, or he would die trying.

He always expected to die trying. He almost lost his leg one time, had a couple of burns in his arms and a large scar on his back from many previous attempts. But it was the only way he saw, an act of desperation, and at the same time, his way of keeping himself sane by telling his own brain he was helping instead of killing.

But now, there it was. It was time, it would either work, or everything would blow up in his face. He activated the device, and the last thing he saw was an explosion, before the world went black.

* * *

 **A/N** No, obviously this isn't the end, its actually the beggining if you know what i mean.

One shots might include the (not romantic, but no less amazing) flight, drago battle, arriving to the village (maybe when both berserkers and hiccup arrived?). Lots of time-gap here to fill later, for now, i will continue the story, and it will be a lot less angsty from now on.

I would also like to give a very special thanks to _**midnightsky**_ for being the first (and only so far) favorating the story.


	9. Time for change

**A/N** : Ok, time jumps can be tricky, lots of paradoxes, so to make things easier, with the time jump, a parallel universe was created, instead of being trapped in his own pasted. For example, if young Hiccup killed himself, old Hiccup wouldn't die.

Originally my plan was only of Hiccup crossing, but now im seriously considering Heather or Dagur (or both?) coming too, I'm open to suggestions.

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Time for change**

The ground shifted beneath him and he woke up. He slowly opened his eyes, but he still only managed to see black. Now confused, he got up.

He jumped back; the black "ground" was nothing less than the Nightfury. He quickly reached for his dagger that was in the ground. He tried to remember what had happened, he was going to kill the Nightfury, but there was an explosion? How did that happened? Was someone else there with him? He looked around but all he could see were trees.

He returned his gaze to the downed Nightfury, and rose his dagger again. It was time to show the village he was a real viking. He looked at the dragon one last time, but as before, he found it wasn't a good idea, and he hesitated. Closing his eyes to avoid looking at the beast, ready to strike...

"NO!" he heard someone shout, and turned to face the sound. He probably should run, but with his luck he would have tripped on a branch somewhere. So his chance was figuring out what the person wanted, and satisfy his natural curiosity.

* * *

Hiccup found himself in the woods. He slowly got up. Was he dead? He looked around. The woods did seem familiar. Between the trees, we was able to see a pair of green eyes looking at him.

Then it struck him. He had done it. He actually had traveled _in time_. But now that he did, he was filled with doubt. Could he change history? If he changed things, it meant that he wouldn't have the need to return, meaning he wouldn't be here.

He pushed those thoughts away. He had come back to save the village, if it meant him disappearing, so be it. The viking looked back at the green eyes. It wasn't anger or fear he saw. It was resignation, certainty that he wouldn't escape it's fate. He wasn't exactly sure of what time betwen the raid and the... mistake occured, but he quickly made his way through the trees, only to find a boy holding a dagger, closing his eyes.

"NO!" he yelled.

* * *

They looked at each other for what looked like an eternity. The man was seeing his youngself, auburn hair, green eyes, small and thin. He never realized just how much he had changed, and was wondering what he would say. The boy also looked at the strange man in front of him. It looked so much like a thinner version of his father it gave him a chill in the spine. Slightly shorter, and slightly less...stoic, the resemblace was still uncanny.

The silence finally broke.

"Who... Who are you?" The young viking asked.

The question caught Hiccup off guard. He of course should have seen it coming, but he never expected to succed in the first place. What could he say? Telling the truth was obviously out of the question for now, he had to make up a story, and fast. He decided he could buy a little time if it was him asking the questions.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Hiccup Hadock, the third, but that doesnt answer my question."

The man grinned. It did answer his question.

"And your father is Stoick, the vast?"

"Yes."

"What kind of dragon is this?"

"Nightfury. Who are you?"

The boy shot, having caught up on the diversion.

"Impressive. I'm... Rider." He technically wasn't a rider. He only flew twice, the first time with CloudJumper and his mother, and the second to come back to Berk in the back of a baby dragon, but he needed a name, and he _was_ trying to create other rider to maybe create peace between the two races. Starting with himself.

"Did you create the explosion?"

"I... yes." Figuring the truth was easier than Hiccup worrying about a explosion that came out of nowhere. But Rider couldn't let his younger self continue. He knew the questions wouldn't end, and he had no answers, so he had to appeal to his curiosity in other way, a way he knew himself would agree to.

"So, Hiccup... you were about to kill a dragon... but how would you like to learn how to train your dragon instead?" He knew that sooner or later he would have to tell something about himself, but for now, he knew he could keep him... _self?_ busy.

Hiccup looked at him with disbelief and fear, but he could also see the excitement and awe in the young boy, and that was all he needed.

Rider took his own dagger, and got close to the dragon. He never had dealt with a Nightfury before... except of course, twenty years ago. Or was it 20 seconds ago? He shook his head. Dragons weren't evil. He was going to release him, so he wouldn't kill them... right? He took one deep breath and cut the ropes.

* * *

He woke in the ground. He remembered nothing of the last years. He tried to move, but he soon realized that he couldn't, there was some sort of rope wrap around him. His whole body was sore, but the sharpest pain came from his tail. He resigned himself to wait for death to come, and closed his eyes.

He woke the see a small boy next to him. Was this boy the one who brought him down? He couldn't believe it. He, one of the smartest and fastest dragons, defeat by such a small thing. Nevertheless, he was done. He stared at the boy's eyes, and there was a tiny speck of hope, before the boy close his eyes. The dragon mirroed, prepared for the inevitable. But suddenly, he felt an explosion, and instead of a cut, he felt the boy falling harmlessly over him.

Were the Gods punishing him? Wasn't it enough to die at the hands of the boy, he had to be a pillow for him first? The irony, he was so close, and yet he still couldn't move to kill the puny creature that would be sure to kill him when he awoke. He shifted slightly, and he felt the boy getting up, readying his weapon again.

He saw a man in the place of the explosion, aproaching him quickly, yelling something, and the boy stopped to turn at him. Worse than death, it was this. Knowing what was going to come, accepting it, just for it to be postponed. He saw the man and the boy staring at each other, then trading a few words. He saw the man approaching him with the dagger.

Aparently, it was the man who was going to kill him, not the boy, somehow it made him feel a little better. But then he felt what he never expected. He was getting loose. When he felt he was free enough, he jumped, pinning both boy and man to the ground with his two front paws, one for each.

And yet, something was wrong. They smelled the same. How could that be? He was clearly to confused, but they had let him go, so he figured maybe he should give them a chance and let them go as well. Even if the man had killed dragons and the boy was about to. He let a frustrated roar and flew away.

Or at least he tried too. Something was wrong, and he couldn't mantain his flight, which is how he found himself in a large cove, unable to get out, and started thinking about the situation again. How could the man appear out of an explosion? How could the man smell exactly like the boy? He was, once more, facing certain death. And why did the Gods let him go again just to die out there?


	10. Rider

**A/N** : From now on, old Hiccup name will be Rider, while young Hiccup will be... Hiccup. Surprising, uh?

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Rider**

"That's one trained dragon." Hiccup comented, as soon as his heart rate slowed down a bit.

"I don't know about you, but I'm pretty much alive." Rider answered.

"Is your definition of training a dragon not being eaten by one?"

"No, since none gets eaten by dragons. However, being alive is a good start, you can't train a dragon if you're dead."

Hiccup sighted. He could be returning to the village as a hero. Instead, here he was, as useless as he had always been, and he could probably be outcast if his village found that he released a dragon. Not like he had much choice, he couldn't have overpowered the strangely familiar man, but it's not like he resisted him either. Truth is, he felt torn, even when he was alone with the dragon, and he wasn't particularly upset with the outcome. Except he knew nothing about the man.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked at Rider.

"Trust me, that wouldn't have ended well."

Hiccup remained silent, so Rider continued.

"The only way you could control the dragon is if you were an Alpha. I'm assuming you're not, so you will have to trust your dragon, and he will trust you in return. Trust is the most important aspect of the relationship, and you can't trust him if you're stuck in old traditions. I can see you're diferent Hiccup, it's a good thing, ignore those you tell you otherwise. And I'm fairly certain we will see the Nightfury again, and not when he's shooting at us."

"Why?"

"First, he already got the chance and he didn't. Also, he seemed injured, he couldn't have gone far, if you help him, it's another great step in the bonding experience. You may not know it yet, but that dragon belongs with you."

"Bonding? And why would you say that?"

"Bonding is the link you have with your dragon...

Rider remember the first dragon he killed. How he felt like he had killed part of himself. When he learned about dragons, he knew who his dragon partner was suposed to be, and refused to ride others unless he was forced to. Instead, he just quietly continued:

...and I can tell."

Feeling he shouldn't press, for now at least, they continued in silence. Reaching the end of the forest though, the young viking felt a hand in his shoulder again, and turned to face Rider, who had a serious look on his face.

"Hiccup, I know I'm a stranger to you, but please promise me you won't try to find the way to the dragon's nest."

"The dragon's nest is the thing the vikings have been searching since they first got here, and you expect me to what, ignore it?"

"Yes." Rider sights.

"Before I knew what I know now, I was very angry with the dragons. I found a way to reach their nest. Almost all my village went to end the war. And the war ended alright, but not in a good way. At first all the dragon's fled and we thought we won, but it was a short lived victory. A dragon the size of a mountain rose out of the volcano. We didn't stand a chance, I was probably the only one to survive."*

Hiccup was at a loss of words. Could he trust the man he just met? He seemed honest enough, but that didn't mean anything.

"You seem smart enough to figure out a way there to, so please, promise me you won't."

"I... I promise." He usually kept his promises. But he also made a promise to himself at the same time to disregard that one if he came to distrust the man.

Rider noded.

"Good. I would also like to offer my services to teach you not only about dragons, but how to fight and I could also teach you a couple of things at the forge."

"How do you know I work in the forge?"

Rider froze for a second, then remember all the marks that he had from working in the forge. He showed his own though, burned hands.

"Blacksmith hands."

"And why do you want to help me?"

"Because you need it."

"I don't know how to fight."

"Exactly why you need to learn."

"I'm already the smith's apprentice."

"If I'm going to stay, I need to make myself usefull. That will probably be in the forge. And I'm sure you can probably learn from both me and G-the current blacksmith."

Hiccup furrowed a brow at that. He noticed the slip, he knew more than he was telling, that was for sure. But he seemed genuine enough about wanting to help, and he did need it, who was he to refuse? Only gave him more time to know the strange man's secrets. However, he wasn't even sure Rider would be able to stay in the village. He opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off.

"Look, if you can or not, if I can stay or not, we can talk to your father. But I would very much like to teach you, call it my way to repay the glory that I took away, my question is, do you want to learn?"

"I... I don't know." Hiccup wanted to say yes. Somehow he felt a conection to his stranger. Was it because it was the first person to want to help him? Gobber cared for him, but he didn't encourage him like Rider did. And his father... well, it was Stoic and enough said. The unsetling part was that it seemed to almost read his mind sometimes, and that he found a bit scary.

"I understand. C'mon, lets talk to your father."

There was no way he should've known that. Who was he, exactly? With that in thought, they went to the village.

* * *

When they found Stoic he was already returning home after a long day of overseeing the reconstruction of the village. He clearly wasn't going to be in his best mood. Rider felt a bit dizzy with all of the "new" faces, but he held his ground. He knew stuberness would be necessary to talk to the chief. Luckly, he would be speaking as a foreigner, not as a subject, and not as a child. Not to mention he knew a bit about his father, while they knew nothing about him, that should go in his favor, hopefully this will go well.

"Greeting, chief, may I speak with you?"

"Hey dad."

"Hiccup, go back to the house, I need to talk to you when I finish here."

He held himself straighter and glared at the man before continuing, as to try to threaten him slighty, imposing himself in the conversation. He studied the man, experienced, but not old, and strong, but not big. With a strange resemblance to himself, which he discarded immediatly, he was sure he had no brothers, probably just a coicidence, but he was definitly a viking.

"Hello, who are you? And does it need to be private?"

Unfortunatly for him, he was both used to and expecting the glare.

"My name is Rider. I can speak here, but if you wouldn't mind, I would prefer if Hiccup would stay, since it will also concern him."

The large man glanced at the figure oposing him, there was something very unnerving about the man.

"No, he will ago. Why are you in my village, how did you get here, and what tribe are you from?"

 _I built a time machine and came 20 years into the past to save the village_ he thought. It was fitting, true and sarcastic at the same time, but it wasn't the moment for it.

"As the heir, he does have the right to welcome someone that arrives to the village."

Stoick glared at him, hard. Rider seemed unfazed, but Hiccup felt himself shrink. Not that he needed it.

"Fine, he will stay, state your business."

"I belong to no tribe, I'm a traveler who shipwrecked and reached the beach beyond the forest. As for what I want, from what I understand dragon training will start soon. I want you to let me work at the forge and teach Hiccup how to fight for him to be ready for the dragon training."

Stoic laughed, but stopped when he saw the angry man in fron of him. Was he really serious?

"And what would you like in return?"

"Just a bed, food and clothes, and whatever I build."

"We will discuss it tomorrow, you can get food in the Hall, and sleep in our house tonight."

 _That way I can keep an eye on you._ He felt like he could trust the man, even if something was off, but he learned long ago to be carefull.

Rider nodded and left for the Hall.

* * *

Rider easily made his way to the Hall. When he opened the large doors, everone was staring at him. He didn't like it one bit, but he knew he was a stranger, so it was normal, and his features certainly didn't help him go unnoticed.

"Can I help you lad?"

Rider turned to the voice, though he already knew who it belong to, the one-handed one-legged viking he had missed more than his own father.

"I'm just here for some food, I'm sure chief Stoick will explain everything tomorrow."

Gobber eyed him again. Gobber was the one who knew _Hiccup_ the best, so he knew he would be the harder to fool. However, it seemed to be enough, for now.

"Go on then, a man needs his food. Name's Gobber."

"Rider." He responded, trading a firm handshake.

* * *

No Haddock slept until much later in the night.

Rider felt he was doing something terribly wrong, that he shouldn't mess with the past. Sure, that had been the plan all along, but he didn't exactly thought it would work, so he hadn't planned it carefully.

 _At least they are alive._ He had to control himself not to cry or hug Gobber when he saw him, his father to a lesser extent, or even the rest of the village, even if he never had a good relationship with them. He hadn't seen _her_ yet. He wondered how would that work out. Talking to "his" father just made him remembered his own situation 20 years ago. If he was changing the past, he was going to be sure to better his own past.

A memory with a dragon that came to his mind. _His_ dragon. That _he_ had killed. He regretted everything since. Rider wondered why he had killed the dragon in first place. Because he was a _viking_. He scowel at the word. It was to late for him, but he was going to make sure it wasn't for Hiccup. Knowing the young _not-_ viking was safe, and everyone else was safe too, he slept like he handn't in 20 years. Even if he was sure stressfull days were sure to come, nothing compared to what he had been going through.

Hiccup couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened. He was going to kill the dragon, show everyone he was a viking. But then there was an explosion, and he met a strange man who released the dragon. They almost died after. And yet, he wasn't angry, he was curious. _Who was he? How did he appear out of an explosion? Could he really train a dragon, a Nightfury no less? Did that mean he could he stop the war? And does he really think he could train me?_

Lots of question, no answers. But the young viking decided he wanted to learn the answers. He hoped his father would agree with man, he wanted the other man a chance, he wanted to train with him, and he wanted to prove his own village own, to change everything. When he finally made up his mind, his eyes closed and his mind soon drifted to another world.

Stoic was mulling it over if he could really trust the man. He saw him and Hiccup get out of the woods, so he supposed he didn't want to kidnap his son, or he would have done it already. But how did he get here? He believed the man, but not his story. And why was he so intrested in Hiccup? How did he look so much like Hiccup? Could he perhaps be some distant family? He decided it didn't matter. He didn't seemed threatening. If he wanted to help his son, he wouldn't be the one to stop it. He had almost given up, if somene wanted to try, to give him hope again of his son becoming a real viking, he would welcome it. After all, he should have been the one to do it in first place, but he had failed miserably at that, putting his village over his own son. He shook his head at the last though. His decision made, soon enough the snoring was heard troughout the house.

* * *

 **A/N** : *Yes, probably, doesn't mean nobody can pop up from the past, though i have no idea to do so now, doesnt mean i wont. after all, hiccup did survive, maybe someone else survived as well?

Also, i find Hiccup complementing himself a bit OOC, but it is a diferent hiccup, he just did fix everything, and he is helping another person with his cofidence, which he knows he needs since its himself, and that isn't OOC imo.


	11. A Diferent Training

**Chapter 11: A Diferent Training**

There had been a council meating in that morning. Gobber had admitted that while he and Hiccup would be in dragon training, he could use the help in the forge, but that Rider would have to prove himself as a smith first. And the hope of Hiccup, who was...well, Hiccup, to become a good fighter quickly got the aproval for Rider to train him. It wasn't long before there were bets on how much time would it take for Rider to quit. But first, Rider would have to prove his worth as a fighter as well, which is how they found themselves in the arena, though it wasn't quite like they had expected.

* * *

Rider woke up even before the chief, the sky still dark on the horizont. He swiftly left the house, he knew it would look suspicious, but he wouldn't be gone very long.

Entering the woods, he quickly retraced the steps he still remembered to the crash site, then proceeded to quickly and efectively track down the dragon to a beautiful cove. He didn't see any more marking nor dragon in the cove, but suddenly a black claw apeared just in front of him, making him heart speed up. Confirming the dragon site, he returned to the village a little over two hours after he left. He was just wondering around, reviving old memories, when he was spotted by the chief, who told him the news, and directed him to the arena.

Rider followed happily, he was able to stay and complete his purpose, and he was sure to show them he knew what he was doing, even if he somehow lost the fight. What he didn't expect, was a young blonde woman on the other side of the ring.

His heart immediatly shatered into a milion pieces. Not that he loved her, but there is always something about the first love that always stays. But how to deal with the person who you used to love, that died but it's alive, who trained you but doesn't know about it (giving an unfair advantage)? And the possibility of tarnishing the perfect image he had of her was perfectly real, considering the love was there no longer, to make good thing better, and bad things acceptable. That love now belong to a pair of green eyes, that he supposed it was as good as dead as far as himself was concerned.

Fighting a clenching heart, he had no heart to fight her, and pleaded for a change in opponent. However, that was only seen as a disrespect for the young shield-maiden, and said viking charged. Now fighting in two fronts, he doged blow after blow, trying to appease the blonde's honor, but he really had no good explanation he could give to change the adversary. As such, Astrid continued the atack, swinging her axe.

"You! *swing* Will! *swing* Fight! *swing* ME! *swing*"

After a couple of minutes of rentless atack and dodging, they now circled each other. The axe-girl had calmed down, now studying his nimble opponent.

"You can't dodge forever!"

"You can't atack forever!"

And so she continued, until she somehow managed a superficial cut in his right arm, harmless but painful.

When she saw the irritation in his eyes, she grinned, now he would fight. The grinn was short-lived though, as one atack later, she found herself on the floor, her axe on Rider's hands. There was something to be said about knowing your opponents, but this victory just felt wrong. Kneeling, he returned her axe with an apology, and stormed out of the arena.

What he didn't know, is that that little spar had increason ten fold Astrid's... competetiveness, as a way to not call it anger issues.

* * *

After calming down, Rider eventually had to return to the village to take Hiccup training. So now there they were, in the woods, each with a wooden sword. Made for them not to hurt each other, and with less weight. The makeshift weapon was easier to train the moves, and stances, and they could also train longer. Before the training itself though, Rider had a little pep talk with the young trainee, surprising him, since everyone else that had tried just charged him and expected him to defense himself, which just ended with a whole lot of bruises and very little training.

 _"We aren't here for you to be able to kill your enemies. We are here for you to be able to protect your tribe from them."_ That had caught him off guard. Hiccup should be expecting it by then, Rider was clearly diferent from the rest of his tribe. Seemed also a good training to expect what you can't except. And yet, when he thought things through, he often found himself completly agreeing and understanding, and sometimes even predicting Rider.

Hiccup was never a good fighter, in fact he was terrible. But his only reason to learn had been to fit in, to overpower others, and he had no real desire in that. Now, he was fighting for something, and he would follow things through. When he got his heart on something, he always finished it... Seems like everyone has their stuberness issues...

After some training with the sword, came the bow. They didn't shoot at targets, like he always saw other vikings do in training. They went hunting for food. Rider seemed more focused on giving him a reason to do it, then actually telling him how to do it. Of course, he corrected his stance every now and then, his aim, or even the strengh with which he pulled, but he felt the encouragement more than anything, and it worked, they went home that night with one deer and a couple of rabbits, along with a grin on Hiccup's face, and lots of bruises that, for once, the young viking didn't mind.

At night, he saw Rider at the forge, probably working on his project, but he was to tired for another lesson and soon fell asleep.

* * *

The next day he took a loaf of bread, grabbed the wooden sword and the bow, and went outside, were Rider was already waiting. The man shook his head.

"No, leave the weapons, go grab a couple of fish from the docks and meet me where we first met in one hour."

Hiccup was curious. But by now, even only after a day and a half, he trusted Rider, and just noded.

An hour later, he had a destroyed bola at his feet, fish in his hand, and Rider at his side with a small bag.

"I followed the tracks yesterday to a cove. When we find him, you must make no move to atack. You'll be scared, and dragons can sense it, so try let go."

Hiccup wanted to protest. He was a viking, and vikings didn't get scared of anything. Not that viking went to meet dragons... And the tone in his voice wasn't at all ofensive, Rider was only giving him advice. Plus, he was right, he had been scared when he first found the tied Nightfury. He didn't think it wasn't going to get better this time when he was _not_ tied, so he just noded, and followed him.

* * *

He was hungry, so hungry. And angry, so angry. And confused, so confused.

He didn't eat for days, not being able to fly meant he didn't have enough speed to fish. His tail still hurt, but what hurt most was his inability to fly. Nightfuries were masters of the sky, the flew like no other, and now, all was lost. And he still couldn't stop think of what had happened. He was shot down, and the boy intended to kill him. But then he didn't.

Why had the humans released him? Was this some kind of cat-and-mouse game for them, relase him, so they could torture him, maybe hunt him later? Had he been wrong in not killing them when he had the chance? At the time he thought he was sparing their life like they spared his, but now he knew better, they didn't spare his life, they left him to die. And they took his tail, maybe he should have taken a leg in return.

But he was still utterly confused by those two pairs of green eyes. He saw something in them, he didn't know what, and now he was starting to think he was wrong. And then there was the smell. How could two diferent creatures smell the same? Had he imagined one of the humans? After being grounded for so long, and without food, he was losing his mind, that much he was sure of.

When he saw the same two figures appearing at that cove, one of them with a fish, he wasn't sure if he was imagining them or not. Was he hungry enough to be imagining fish? Nevertheless, if it was real, he had to eat. They didn't look threatening, and he couldn't smell other humans. As he aproached though, he got a glimpse of the boy's dagger, and he took a step back and growled.

He saw the man talking to the boy, and the later slowly reaching for his dagger, dropping it to the ground. He made a move with his head, he wanted the dagger out of his reach. The boy understood and sent the dagger to the water. He relaxed, and approached again. The boy streched his arm, giving him the fish, he assumed. It could be a trap, he thought. If it was, he didn't care, he was too hungry for that, it's not like his situation could be that much worse.

He got closer. He could see the same confusing eyes, the same confusing smell from the two diferent humans. And he was close enough to the fish. He retracted his teeth (after all, you don't eat the hand that feeds you) and took the fish from the boys hand, gulping it down quickly.

He looked at the humans again. He saw the boy making some kind of weird movement with his mouth, and he tried to immitate, making quite a site for the visitors. By now, he was sure he was imagining things. Then, he saw as the boy reached his hand slowly for him, trying to touch him, and he felt something in his head telling him to trust the boy. But he still couldn't, his instict kicked in, he growled again and glided to the other side of the cove.

He shot to the ground and curled up in the heated rock. He was hungry, but less hungry. He was angry, but less angry. He was confused, more confused than ever.


	12. Toothless

**Chapter 12: Toothless**

"Toothless?"

"I could have sworn you had... teeth."

He looked at the Nighfury in front of him. But this time he _really_ looked at him. He saw proof of everything Rider had been saying about dragons. He gave a loopsided grin, and the dragon answered with one of his own. Before he knew what he was doing, he slowly rose his hands closer to the dragon's snout.

The dragon growled and got away.

"You're a natural." The young viking turned to Rider, who was watching the exchange from a few meters away.

"Because that was very natural." he replied.

"It actually was. It works better when you didn't try to kill them first, though."

Hiccup looked down.

"Hey, he'll forgive you, in fact I'm pretty sure he already has, you just need time."

"You're the one that saved him, and you didn't try to kill him, why don't you train him?"

Rider's heart clenched at that sentence.

"Because he belongs with you, and your bond will be stronger if you train him yourself."

"I've had my chance." He added in a murmur; Hiccup wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear that or not.

They sat on a rock on the cove. Hiccup listened while Rider told him about dragons. About strenghs and weaknesses, shot limits and blind spots. But he never said 'kill on sight'. Instead, he continued, told him how to aproach each one, what they liked and what they didn't like, drago'nip, dragon root, eels. He told him all that with passion, and responded each question with enthusiasm.

But then his tone got more serious, and he told him about the Alphas, the BewielderBeasts, and the _Queen_. He said that word with a tone he hadn't heard from him before, and the young man remember what he had said about his village finding the nest.

They fell silent after that, Rider remembering what he was trying not to remember, while Hiccup tried to process it all, which was an awfull lot. He grabbed a stick and started drawing in the dirt, not really thinking what he was doing.

The young boy felt a presence behind him, followed by Rider's voice.

"Relax, continue what you were doing, he's curious, that's good." He said quietly.

He looked at the ground, and saw he was unconsciously drawing the Nightfury, the very same _deadly_ dragon he had his back to. He hold his breath without realizing, and continued to draw.

He felt the presence back away, and assumed the Nightfury got bored, then he heard a snapping sound. He put a hand in his neck without realizing it, just to make sure it was still there.

He turned to see the Nightfury bustling with a tree in its mouth. The dragon dropped the tree and Hiccup took a step forward, and the dragon growled. The small boy froze, then looked to the ground. He was stepping in what seemed to be a random lines that were spread along the ground. He lifted his foot, and the growling stopped. He stepped on in twice more to make sure it was that that made the dragon growl.

"Brave, testing the patience of a Nightfury."

Deciding agaisn't continuing to do so, he put his feet away from the line into the drawing and looked at the dragon. He didn't seem to be upset. Hiccup continue to move into the mix of curves and lines, feeling like he was dancing, looking at the ground as not to step into the lines itself, but also amazed at what the dragon had done.

He stopped. He had gone closer to the black animal than he had realized, the boy could feel his heat right behind him. He slowly turned around, and as he looked at the powerfull beast, he felt the need to reach to him again. He slowly extended his arm, but the dragon growled softly and he half retracted his arm. He decided on a leap of faith, and closed his eyes, looking down, while slowly extending his arm again. He waited for what felt like hours, but what was only a second, before he felt smooth scales in his hand. But he felt more than the scales in his hand. He felt trust, he felt that something like a tiny sparkle was awoken in him. And he finally realized what Rider meant, he belonged with this dragon. _Speaking of Rider, w_ _here is he?_ He wondered.

The dragon gave him the answer. The Nightfury huffed and shook his head, to then look at the man, who had apeared right beside him. He saw Rider extending his arm, while _his_ dragon rested his snout on his palm once again, but he retreated the hand soon. He couldn't help but feel a bit of jealousy over the fact that it seemed as the dragon equaly cared about Rider, and that the man did at first try, without having to do anything else. But as established, the older viking knew often what the young man was thinking or feeling.

"He trusts you enough to trust me, I wouldn't have made this sooner either. And this was only to show that we're friends, it's different from what you did, it's what would happened if you aproached another dragon. The dragon would trust you, but it's not a real bond. He's your dragon, but it goes both ways, you're also his human, and that's something that won't change."

He wasn't sure if he was being completly honest. He had no idea how him being 'Hiccup' would affect his relation with the dragon, but it was Hiccup who would get the dragon, he was making sure of it by staying behind. He smiled, but Hiccup could see the bittersweet taste in that apparently genuine smile.

"I told you it was normal." He teased.

"I... Yes you did. Thank you... for everything." Hiccup was happy and grateful behind words.

"It was all you." Rider laughed quietly at the inside joke.

"Now, take this."

The man reached for his bag and took something green, which he realized it was some kind of grass.

"It's called Drago'nip, I told you about it earlier, it will relax him. In the meantime, I will try to clean the wound in his tail."

The mood dropped at his words. Before Hiccup could feel guilty, he continued.

"Hey, it's ok, but you do need to help make it better, give him the dragon nip to smell. We can probably build him a prostetic tailfin at the forge later."

It was happening so many times lately that Hiccup didn't even think about the fact that the man could practically read his mind, so he just did was he was told. A while later, he saw Rider get up from behind the black dragon.

"It's getting dark, we need to go."

Hiccup nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow... Toothless."


	13. Inventions

**Chapter 13: Inventions**

The week passed quickly for Rider. He trained Hiccup in both fighting and dragons during the day, and worked at the forge at night. It was worth it, Hiccup was improving, and his inventions were ready.

He sometimes noticed how Astrid showed up to 'sharpen her axe' and would end up eyeing his work, or how she would 'coincidentally' close to where he practise sword-fighting with Hiccup. He had half a mind to ask her to join him and Hiccup in training sometimes, both to appease her, and to try to make her interact with Hiccup.

But he wasn't sure himself if the love of his life was dead, or just in a diferent universe. It was hard to tell when just a childhood crush that could have been something else ended, or a woman he loved but never really aproach, who would now how that would have planned out? Or was it someone else altogether? He doubt it, but not knowing, he decided not trying to change Hiccup's love life, not more than he already had by changing the future.

The problem being he still had no idea how to deal with her, so he just sharpened the axe, or would move away 'for safety', and try to avoid her everywhere else when he could.

He rarely saw 'his' father, or the rest of the village for that matter, he figured it was for the best, he wanted to avoid confrontations. All-in-all, he was here to change his mistakes, so he only needed to help Hiccup to help everyone else. He figured it was a bit selfish, but it was not like he was helping himself _himself_ , so his mind told him it was ok. Either way, the work with Hiccup and the forge left him with little time to anything else.

His bigger concern would be the strange looks Gothi would give him everyone once in a while, but for now, everything was going well, the next day he would show his project to Gobber, who would decide if he could work at the forge during the dragon training and search of the nest (who he had no doubt he would pass). But his work also meant that that day, he had a couple of surprises for Hiccup.

* * *

Hiccup woke early, excited about what he would be learning today. The young boy hadn't been this happy in a while. He thanked the Gods for Rider showing up in his life, training him, talking to him and actually listening to him, he gave him both support and freedom in just the right combination. The fact that he didn't have time to spend with his _not_ -friends (meaning he would _not_ get pranked by the twins, bullied by Snoutlout, ignored by Astrid and pitied by Fishlegs) was also a great bonus.

He knew he wasn't the best fighter ( _yet_ his new mind thought, fighting with the mind that had been built the previous 15 years), but he knew the basics, and with Rider's help and caution, he felt like he could actually do some good with his inventions, he just needed to be carefull when testing them.

As usual, Hiccup grabbed some food in the morning, then followed the path to the woods to meet Rider in the woods. This time, however, he noticed the man was carrying a shield and some leather, those were new.

"Morning Hiccup." Rider said with a smile.

"Hey Rider." He answered, also grining.

"What are those?"

Rider's smile widened.

"This if a gift for you." He said, giving him the shield.

Hiccup was confused.

"A shield?"

In his surprise he was sounding ungratefull though, and he quickly took notice of this, and continued.

"I mean... uhm... it looks great, thank you."

Rider just laughed. He knew by now nothing he could do was going to surprise him, it was uncanny. Yet it felt really good to have a person who knew him so well, and that by now he knew he could trust with his life. The most insecure part of his mind though, still nagged him about knowing so little about the man who meant so much to him.

"It's made of Gronkle Iron, I believed I already mentioned it to you?"

Hiccup nodded. That already made the shield more valuable, but he was starting to think there was more to the shield than that. He studied the shield noticing some buttons in the holding part of the shield. He noticed where I was staring at.

"Test that later, ideally in the forest, when you have some time alone, I'm sure you'll have fun. For now, we have some flying to do."

Hiccup froze. _Flying? How were they flying? Were they riding Toothless? But the dragon couldn't even fly himself, how would he fly with him?_ He knew Rider had a plan. And the dragon was the 3rd person...err- living-being he trusted more by now (Rider, Gobber, Toothless), but he wasn't so sure about flying. He wondered for a moment who would be the 4th place. His father came to mind, but he still wasn't very sure.

"Relax, I'm not even sure it will work. It's not like I've ever build a prosthetic tailfin before."

That, for once, didn't help Hiccup at all. If Rider wasn't sure it would work, it increased the probability of him falling to his death in mid-flight.

* * *

Hiccup was at the forge. And the young viking was hurt, but he didn't mind it one bit. He hurt from the training today, he hurt from the fall of that glarious flight... that lasted 2 seconds, but glorious all the same. Rider had let him feed Toothless as usual.

In fact, when dealing with Toothless, Rider usually just watched and let him interact with the dragon alone. For him to bond, for him to have autonomy, for him to know his dragon, and as for the tailfin, he would need to trust it with his life, he needed to know it better than anyone, and so it was his job to fix it, the man said. But he saw the look Rider gave the dragon. He knew the man wasn't afraid, but there was definitly another reason, one that he couldn't figure out, and couldn't pry out.

Hiccup felt a little hurt by the still distrust of the man, when he seemingly knew everything about him, but it was buried in the good feelings of the best week of his entire life.

The part where he had to saddle a Nightfury though, that was hard work. After a lot of fish, rubbing, and overall playing around, he finally managed, without the Drago'nip. Saddle ready, it was time for flying... and crashing. The most amazing two seconds ever.

After that they continued his usual training, and when the night close in, Rider ended the training, leaving him to the job of fixing the tailfin with an encouraging smile, so there he was, thinking.

After long hours of thinking and working, he returned home, already late. His father was asleep, but strangely, Rider wasn't there. He certainly wasn't at the forge, so he thought it a bit strange for a second, but then just shrugged and went to bed. What he didn't know, is that his father had met Rider earlier in the night...

* * *

Rider said his goodbye to Hiccup before returning to the woods. Hiccup was learning, in both strengh, stamina and knowledge, but he also needed to work on his inventions. Not that he lacked creativy or smith skills, but realism (from the man who build the time machine, talk about hypocrisy) and specially, he lacked efectiveness. He needed to learn when to improve an idea, when to change it, and when to drop it. And something incredibly complicated as he knew the tailfin would be, and that it would absolutely _need_ and that he had the motivation to work, was a great way to do all that, while bonding with Toothless at the same time.

But now, Rider wasn't sure what to do. He needed to be alone to think and returned to the woods he knew since forever. Tomorrow he had to show it to Gobber what he had been working on; he was confident _inferno_ would be more than enough to earn the smith's trust. At least as a smith.

However, he had many troubles flowing throw his mind. Tomorrow, he knew Hiccup was going to start dragon training. He wasn't the best, you can't become a fighter in a week, even if Hiccup was a _very_ quick learner. But he was definitly ready, he had become fast and agile, he knew what to do (which most don't, he added to himself, and that gave him an huge advantage) and how to do it.

So what really troubled him was the internal struggle he knew Hiccup was going through. How could the young man, after what he had thaught him, fight dragons? Had he doomed the small viking without realizing it? And what could he do for the dragons in the arena? The two biggest questions, though, were about a certain huge dragon, and his _very_ uncertain future...

...that he didn't it was about to make a curve... but even that curve would not decide for him what route would he take after that curve transformed itself into a circle, where a path would need to be choosen.

He sighted, and the images of Hiccup with the Nightfury just popped to his mind. He was happy - truly happy - for Hiccup, but he couldn't feel a hint of sorrow for what could have been, and he knew that the young man also knew something was off, even if he always found a way to defend his choices logicly.

He grabbed a small tube made of metal from its place in his waist, to make sure it was working, one last time. A flaming sword apperead soon after. _Inferno_. He knew it was definitly a unique sword in the Archipelago, strong, light, fire-proof, and most importantly _on fire_. He smiled slightly at the sword. Until the light provided by those flames revealed a pair of green eyes in the woods watching him.

"Very impressive... Hiccup."


	14. Green eyes

**A/N** Hello again. I would like to say "Rider" may be called as Hiccup again, but it should be simple enough to distinguish the two of them based on the situation they are in.

I would also like to thank midnightsky again, and now carton lover; the two being the favorite and the follow i have in the story so far, as well as the great reviews, its you guys who keep me going, i really apreciate it!

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Green eyes**

Hiccup was nowhere to be found. It had been that way for a week. She missed the smith and, even though she didn't want to admit it, she also missed the man itself. It was fun teasing him, especially because it was so easy. All his weapons were magnificent, but her green eyes saw it clearly, her axe was just... better. Lighter, stronger, and beautiful, even if such a thing has no place in a battle.

The first day she thought she heard an explosion. Her green eyes looked at the forge, but she didn't thought too much of it, that man always had crazy new ideas that would blow up in his face half the time. The other half though, he made everyone's lives much easier.

The second day Hiccup she was starting to worry and went to the forge, but her green eyes didn't see anybody, so that meant the explosion didn't kill him. Now her worry was starting to turn into anger that the smith wasn't working.

The third day she had forgotten about the explosion, and her anger way rising more and more, turning into rage in her green eyes. How was she supposed to run a village without a smith?

But now, a week had passed. Searches trough the island turned out empty. He didn't die in the explosion, that much she knew. Then how was that related to his disappearing? She thought about the man again. The only thing she knew about him is that he was once the Heir of Berk, his village went to the Dragon's Nest and no one returned. Except him, of course, who showed up months later, out of nowhere, to disapear into thin air 20 years later. Did he leave the same way he came? And how could that happen?

His smile was rare and always made her day when she managed to draw it out. His intelligent green eyes always had dark circles under, and were always sad. She sometimes just took the axe there to ask him his thoughts about the village, and when she could really have him going, thats when his beautiful smile came. But never for long, he would catch himself and withdraw to himself again. He was always ready to help anyone though, his kind nature so un-viking like that she sometimes even wondered if he was indeed the son of Stoick, the Vast. She could have ordered him to talk with her, but she would much rather not make his life even more miserable. The village was prospering, no need to go dig out dirt. Until he disappeared.

She went to the forge again, determined to know what happened. It was starting to get dusty, she needed to find him, or get a replacement soon. Her green eyes spoted his latest invention. She recalled the first day he went missing. _Was this the thing that blew up?_ But it couldn't be that dangerous, if the explosion hadn't killed him. It was indeed peculiar.

Against her better judgment, but determined to reach the bottom of this, she activated the device. There was an explosion. Her green eyes widened in fear, before closing out of reflex. _I'm going to die. I was stupid, I knew it exploded, and now I'm going to die._ She thought of him, but her thoughts were lost and the world went black.

* * *

She slowly got up. Was this Valhalla? Certainly not, she knew those trees, she was in Berk. Was this a dream? And where did all the axe marks went?

Her green eyes spotted two figures in the distance, she could hear that they were talking, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. Both had auburn hair and green eyes. Hiccup, she quickly realized when she focused a bit more. And the boy was...? Maybe his son? She didn't speak that much with him (or more like him with her...), specially not about personal life, but in 20 years she never saw a single thing that pointed towards a child, even if he was reserved, he just couldn't hide something like that... and as the chieftess, she would be aware of marriages and births... but on the other hand, the resemblace was to big to be anything else and she felt an something she couldn't describe. She was definitly confused, and decided not to jump to conclusions. They knew each other, that was the only thing she knew about the boy, she reasoned, trying to make the unwelcome and foreign feeling go away, which partially succeded. But she would definitly need to talk to Hiccup, for now, she decided it was better to observe.

Her green eyes focused again. The boy had a shield, a shield that shone just like her axe... the feeling returned at once, and she did her best to send it away again. Hiccup was holding something too, but she couldn't figure out what it was, some kind of leather? They moved deeper into the woods, and out of sight. She swifly followed them to an almost beautiful cove. Almost? Yes, the view was amazing, a clearing with a beach for a pond, and forest all around, secluded from the rest of the world. So the downfall? A unknown black dragon with green eyes in the middle of it.

She watched in horror how the two entered the cove. She wanted to scream to warn them, but her voice failed. _They are going to get killed!_ She rushed through the woods, no longer caring about being seen. But before she could stop them, they were face to face with the dragon. She watched in horror how the dragon open his mouth... And lick them. _Wait, what!?_ She took a couple of steps back, to be able to watch safely under the cover of trees. Luckly they still hadn't noticed her. She saw as Hiccup left the young boy dealing with the dragon practically alone. _Coward!_ She yelled silently.

The next part was weirder though. The boy feeding fish after fish to the dragon, and scratching him like an overgrown cat. Then, the boy grabbed the thing that Hiccup had been holding before, a saddle. _A saddle!?_

The green eyes had seen enough. She ran through the woods. She considered herself a fairly intelligent person, but she didn't know how to explain what she saw, so while part of her mind was telling her to stop and think, her body and the rest of her mind was telling her to keep running. When the village finally came to her sight, she completly froze. It was definitly Berk, the woods hadn't fooled her, but she knew no one, she still had no idea how to process how the explosion had lead to all of... that. She pinched himself again to make sure again she wasn't dreaming, though she wouldn't be able to imagine that in her wildest dreams. Those involved green eyes doing other stuff, _not_ aproach a black dragon.

She saw a teenage girl with blue eyes that was training with her axe stop to look at her. The teen's axe seemed somehow similar to hers, but there was no question of which one was better, by a league.

Her mind was racing again. She was the chieftess of Berk, but if she didn't know these people, they wouldn't know her either, so she couldn't just barge in there ordering the others around, she would maybe even be arrested for that. However, there had to be somebody rulling the village, she would need to speak to that person, if nothing else, about a certain man, a child, and a dragon. She slowly aproached the blonde with the axe that was still eyeing her suspiciously.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where can I find the chief?" She asked politely, trying to hide the hurricane of emotions flowing through her at that point.

"Chief Stoick is over there." The blonde responded, and not politely, narrowing her eyes, while poiting with her axe in the right direction.

She knew that name. Stoick was indeed the chief of Berk... but he was dead.

So she was dead after all. That didn't look like Valhalla though, and her heart jumped on her chest. And how was a dragon there too? Wherever _there_ was. Maybe dragons weren't that diferent and also went _there_ after dying. Or maybe they were devils that could jump between realitys? And maybe the humans did they not get killed because they were already dead? Her brain was about to explode, and run towards the forest, leaving a very perplexed and suspicious Astrid behind. But one thing was certain though: Hiccup had Hell to pay, and a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

Astrid was training with her axe when a strange women with green eyes running out of the woods caught her attention. After a small break where the woman look lost, she was walking slowly towards her, asking for Stoick. After that though, the woman looked like she had seen a ghost, and ran off. She definitly had to tell the chief about this.

* * *

"Very impressive... Hiccup."

"Hi Heather, hi Heather, hi Heather..." His eyes widened. "Heather?"

* * *

 **A/N** Not one, but two cliffhangers, I know, I'm awfull aha. (edit: luckly for you, next chaps are already posted)


	15. Outcasted

**Chapter 15: Outcasted**

"Hi Heather, hi Heather, hi Heather..." His eyes widened. "Heather?"

"Uh... look, I... I can explain."

 _No I can't._ He thought.

"Really? Then do explain why Berk's chief is Stoick, the _dead_? Or why you and some boy were _befriending_ a _dragon_!? Dragons that killed your entire village? Or, I don't know, everything that is completly WRONG!? "

"Toothless is actually pretty friendly once you get to know him." Hiccup mentally facepalmed at his own answer. Sarcasm was totally _not_ the way to go around this.

"You mean the dragon? That's what you are worried about? Not all the dead people around!?" Heather grabbed her axe.

"Nice axe." _Ok, I really need to stop this answers,_ he thought while she only scowled at him and positioned the axe more agressively.

He retracted _Inferno_ , that he was still holding, to try to calm her.

"Look, I'm sorry, just sit, and I'll explain everything." He seated himself in a log, and she reluctantly did as he asked, but without letting go of her axe.

A couple of possibilitys were crossing his mind. Killing her was completly out of the question, he was not a killer, specially being his fault and being _her_. He couldn't run either. He could try to come up with a lie, but it was to big of a truth to hide. _I guess the truth it is then._ He sighted, and thought of a way for her to reach the conclusion herself, making it easier for her to understand.

"Get confortable too, it will take a while... First, you said Stoick was chief of the village, right?"

"Yes..."

"And he is supposed to be dead in our time, right?"

 _'Our time?'_ "Right..."

"But he was chief of the village before..."

"Get on with it!"

"If he was chief before, and he is chief now... when are we?"

 _'When'? He actually means...?_

At her agape expression, and he did consider her a smart person, he knew she had understood, and started his personal horror story...

"I was very small when I was born, and didn't grew up very much, being smart instead of strong, and very clumsy and unlucky, so I was hated by the village, they called me _useless_. So trying to prove them wrong, 20 years ago, when we are now less 2 weeks, I built a mechanical bola launcher. And that's how, one week ago, I shot down a Nightfury. But everything went even worse after that, you see, (...)"

She remained silent the whole time that he spoke, and even a while after he was done. He couldn't read her face in the dark. Everything he said matched what she already knew and suspected after his questions, and yet it was still so... unbelievable.

"Y-You built a... a time-machine?" He just nodded.

"And a Nightfury?"

He nodded again, but he also wanted an answer to the question that was bothering him since he saw her. He knew, but he dreaded the answer and wanted her to confirm it.

"How did _you_ get here though?"

"Well, you were missing, and I went to look for you... and I might have activated your machine."

"It's still working!?"

A retorical question really, but she still nodded, that wasn't good at all.

"Hm." Was all he said while trying to wrap his mind around the time continuum consequences, and all the problems that would arise if anyone else found the machine, but to no avail, and they were silent for a while, each lost in their own heads, until Rider snapped them out of it.

"Heather?" She looked at him, more acknowledging the sound than the word.

"Why don't you come with me, there's someone I want you to meet."

"Who?"

"... Toothless."

"I just found out I'm not dead. I'm not planning on changing that."

He smiled.

"Come, I promise he won't hurt you. If you don't atack him, that is, you may want to drop your axe once we're there. Or now, that would be good too..."

She reluctantly followed him to the dragon, and did as she were told once they were close.

"Remember, he won't hurt, just stay calm..." And so, they took the last few steps to the cove, were a magnificent black dragon was waiting.

"Heather, Toothless. Toothless, Heather."

"Uh..." _Should I say hi?_

Toothless was looking at her suspiciously.

"Do you have any other weapons?"

"A dagger in my boot."

"Remove it as well, slowly, and put it in the ground, he can probably sense it." Rider said softly.

Face to face with a Nightfury, she figured she didn't have much choice but to agree. _Why did I come here in the first place?_ She wondered. The dragon seemed to relax a little after that though.

"I guess it would be better if you had a fish, but this will have to do." Heather saw as Hiccup put his hand in the dragon's snout, and slowly took her own hand with his other hand.

"What... what are you doing?" She was questioning this and what was _she_ doing for a while now, and at the same time ignore the pleasant feeling of him gently holding her hand. With her own grey past, and after his own story revealed, she fell more atracted to him then ever. And the way his hand felt, smoth and gentle, unlike the other vikings, making her fell like a good kind of lady, not the frightened ones, like something cared for, special, maybe even precious, and at the same time, the hold was strong enough to show he was not afraid to break her like a little princess, and it was showing confidence and determination that she didn't know he had before that moment, he knew what he was doing. She wondered idly if a simple hand-holding could make her feel like this... She came back from the zoning out, pushing the thoughts aside, but stiffened under his hand from her previous musings.

"Just relax..." He said, mistakenly misinterpreting it with fear. He continued, and slowly replaced his own hand in the dragon by her.

At the contact, a huge smiled appeared in her face involuntarily. Maybe he could be friendly after all.

"It would be great if I could take you for a flight, it's not like anything you've ever done before, but we still have to work on that." He said with a bittersweet smile she didn't exactly understand. She looked again at the dragon, eyeing the dragon in awe and curiosity. He laughed.

"You know, we can try to find your own dragon later if you want."

"What!? I don't want a dragon!" He just smiled and raised an eyebrow at her, almost saying 'Really?', and waited for her to tell the truth to herself before saying it to him. "...Ok, fine, I do." But she decided to change subjects.

"It's getting late, we should get back."

Hiccup was thinking that maybe she could stay in his old room at the forge. If she waited for Hiccup to leave and then left early enough, it should be fine. Mid-way to the village though, a voice startled them. They turned to see... Stoic.

 _My night just keeps getting better and better... even if the first visit ended kind of nice, which I'm pretty sure this one won't._

* * *

Stoick was definitly surprised when Astrid came to see him about a woman showing out of the forest asking for him, only for running off again into the woods. But he also associated with Rider showing up out of the woods, only one week before, not to mention just when he would leave and leave the tribe with less warriors. He hadn't heard a single complain from or about him, and he kept Hiccup in line, he had grown to somewhat trust the man, so now finding him with her, in the woods at night... was a shock, and in his mind, could only mean trouble, and trouble usually meant Outcasts. Why, he still had no idea, probably another one of Alvin's crazy plans, even though they weren't usually that elaborated.

When he confronted them in the woods, near the place where Astrid said that she had noticed Rider train Hiccup, the woman looked like she wanted to resist, but the man was reasonable enough, as Stoick figured he would be. He was definitly strong, but he also thought before acting, without a doubt a formidable oppontent if he wanted to be. But he still couldn't shake that unnerving feeling he knew him from somewhere. Maybe they fought before? No, that was not it, he would remember him if that was the case. Still without answers, he put the two of them in prison for the night, and head home.

In the morning, he would talk to Hiccup, ship the two to Outcast Island, and then leave himself to search for the devil's nest.

* * *

Hiccup didn't get up very early after, working late at the forge the previous night, so he was surprised to see his father still waiting for him downstairs. It was for the best though, he needed to talk to him.

"Hey, Dad, I need to talk to you."

"I need to talk to you too, son."

"I don't want to fight dragons." "Rider is getting sent to Outscast Island" They said at the same time.

"What?" They both answered, clearly hearing something they didn't want to hear.

"Son, dragon training starts tomorrow!"

"Yeah, but you know, I was thinking, we already have a surplus of dragon-fighting vikings, but do we have enough bread-making vikings or small home-repairs vikings?"

Hiccup says, trying to emphasis his point with little hand gestures, but Stoick just gives Hiccup an axe.

"Dad, I don't want to fight dragons."

"Come on, yes you do."

"No, I'm really extra sure that I don't."

"It's time Hiccup."

"Can you not hear me?"

"This is serious son! When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. That means you _walk_ like us, you _talk_ like us and you _think_ like us. No more of... this."

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided."

"Deal!?"

"Deal..."

"Good."

What Hiccup didn't know, it's that his father was just afraid of happening the same to him as it had happened to his mother, who also didn't want to fight dragons.

"Why is Rider going to be sent to Outcasts? If I'm going to dragon training, I definitly need his help."

"You need no help from an Outcast!" Stoick answered, angrily, more at Rider than Hiccup, before speaking more softly.

"Another woman sneak into the island, and we found them together. You can train with someone else."

"How do you know they're Outcasts?"

"Who else would they be?"

Hiccup really had no answer for that, after all this time, he still knew a whole lot of nothing about Rider. He was certain he wasn't an Outcast, just as he was sure his father wouldn't listen to him, so he opted for some middle-ground.

"I want to talk to him before he leaves."

Stoic sights. He really didn't want to agree, but he could see his son cared for the man, after all, the man cared for his son the entire week. It was the least he could do if he was going to remove Rider from his son's life all of a sudden, so he nodded, finishing the conversation, and stormed out of the house, even though it was his way of leaving normally.

Hiccup sights and sinks on his chair, seeing his world turned upside down again. Unfortunately, turning upside down twice in this case didn't meant it was right, it was worse than ever. Hopefully he could still get some truths out of Rider.

* * *

Rider was with Heather in the cell. She was first going to try to fight Stoick, then she wanted to tell them the truth, but he somehow managed to convince her out of it both times. Even if Stoick didn't have back up, which he doubted it, they would never get away. And there was no way they would believe him if they told them the truth, plus he actually didn't really want them to actually know the truth.

But now, he had explaining to do to Heather. They were going to Outcast Island, which was way worse for her than for him, he knew she really hated the Outcasts for the years she had been imprisoned there.

But that was exactly why he actually wanted to go there...

* * *

Hiccup was at the docks where he saw the man he knew for only a week (but that in the short period had made it's way into being his best friend, not that there was much competition in that regard) sail away. He drew a beautiful picture of that moment, a reminder of him, in case they wouldn't meet again, which Rider said they would. What bothered him most though, it was that he didn't tell him almost anything else. He didn't answer who that woman was, he didn't tell him how they got there, he didn't tell him who _he_ actually was.

It made him so mad to be left in the dark, when Rider knew almost everything about him. He would never know what motivated that other man, but the man knew him inside out. He considered actually breaking their friendship, feeling it so one-sided but he just couldn't break his own hapiness. As he didn't know much, he knew one thing for certain, that man was and would always be ready to help him, and it was enough. He replayed his last words again.

 _Hiccup, I'm sorry, but I guess you'll have to keep training on your own. This is actually for the best, there is a couple of things I need to take care of with the Outcasts, though I know you know I'm not an Outcast. When I'm done though, I'll send you a Terrible Terror with a letter, and I will need you to pick me up that night, so work hard in that tailfin, but I'm sure you can make it. Goes without saying you need to be careful not to get spotted in both islands. Dragon training will start. You're more than ready, use your speed and knowledge, with your training I'm sure you can defeat the dragons without having to actually hurt them. And don't you worry about me, I'll be fine._

Little information of what he was going to do, even less of what he did, and concise information about what was troubling him. He fought not to cry, he was a viking, and vikings didn't cry. Was he a viking? A single tear fell, he wasn't sure if it was his answer or not.

He stayed still at the docks, even after the boat was out of sight. But then, it was his father's turn to leave, for what he knew to be another fruitless hunt to the nest.

 _I'll be back... probably._

 _And I'll be here... maybe._

He didn't get why vikings would be so stubborn as to do the same thing for 300 years without success and keep doing it without analizing other possibilities. Specially when that _thing_ meant the death of vikings and destruction of ships.

He felt alone and went to the cove, to his only available friend, but no matter how much the dragon licked him, nudged, cooed, rolled and jumped, even Toothless couldn't cheer him up that day.


	16. Change of plans

**Chapter 16: Change of plans**

They were watching in silence as Berk slowly got smaller and smaller.

Hiccup started to collect some pieces of charcoal from the supplies they had in the small boat.

"Heather, will you give me a hand?"

"And what are you doing, exactly?"

"We want Alvin to trust us, so I figured I should dye my hair to try look less like my father. And unless you want everyone to know you're from the future, I think you should try to at least think of another name."

"I'd rather have him dead, no need to worry about trust that way." She hissed.

Hiccup winced at her comment, and Heather realized how bad what she said was if taken more generally. "I meant only for Alvin!"

"I know you hate him, and I'm not exactly best friends with him either. But us being Outcasted means maybe we can join them _temporarily_ so we can find where they are holding 'you' _,_ and maybe find a way to rescue 'you' peacefully. I've seen my fair share od death, I'd rather avoid more, even if it's Alvin."

"It's not me."

"Past you, you know what I meant."

"I did, but you didn't."

"Uh?"

"... They are also holding my parents."

"Your parents?" As she said this, Hiccup had an idea.

"Adoptive parents, but they're still my parents."

"But what about your real parents? Err... biological parents."

" What do... That's brilliant!" As she came to the same conclusion, but her entushiasm came to a halt a few seconds later.

"Hiccup, I don't know if you noticed, but we are in a boat heading to Outcast Island. I don't see how to do this unless you're planning on catching a ride on a dragon..." Hiccup grinned.

"Oh, no, don't you even think about it, I'm not going to get on the back of those beasts."

"Beasts? Didn't you get anything from last night?" He asks with a frown, clearly upset with the term. He hoped she would be past that point. Maybe seeing just one dragon wasn't enough? She did say she wanted her own dragon though, so he was a little confused.

"Ok, not beasts, but that doesn't mean I want to fly with them anytime soon!"

He lifted his frown a litte, but her only response was seeing as he started making some kind of weird noises. She trusted him... kind of, but this passed his usual level of crazy.

"What are you doing!?"

"Dragon calls. Though it looks like either there aren't dragons around or I didn't practise my dragon calls for too long. Probably both." Hiccups says, disapointed in the lack of dragons that would allow them to change their destiny.

"Dragon calls?" He nodded, like it was a perfectly normal thing to do. He was smart, even smarter than her, but there was definitly something out of place in that crazy head.

"And why would you be doing _dragon calls_?"

"Hm, let me think... to call a chicken?"

"Didn't you hear me!?"

"Heather, it will be fine. Besides, didn't you said you want your own dragon?"

She thought back to the day before, but said nothing, only crossing her arms in her chest, in defiance.

"Heather. We can go undercover and risk our lives trying to save you, or we can still try to save you but with the help, when in the meanwhile you have the most amazing experience of your life. You choose."

Heather huffed, she was defeated. But she was nervous and excited, while still angry that she didn't actually have a choice. And so she fired words, daggers she would immediatly regret.

"If it's so great to ride a dragon, why didn't you do it in the past 20 years?" She saw the hurt so clearly on Hiccup's face that it was enough to forget all about being upset for having to ride a dragon. She was really mad at herself that moment, and when he pulls his face into an unreadable mask she saw so often when she went to the forge in the... _past? future?_ , it hurt her even more. She was liking this Rider so much, the one she had only had seen glimpses of before, but in this time he seemed... normal, as normal as Hiccup can be at least, but she just had to make him remember and screw it up. She knew why he didn't ride dragons, he had told her how he killed his own dragon before even knowing it was his, and after that he refused to ride other dragons unless it was really necessary. And he was willing to do it for her. Not her _her_ _,_ but still, he was helping and she... wasn't.

"Hiccup, I'm..." She was cut off by an emotionless voice.

"I see an island ahead, we can spend the night there, with some luck we find a dragon in the morning."

She nodded, but luckly for her, not so much for him (at least for what he wanted at that moment), they were stuck with each other in a boat, and would probably be alone together for the next couple of days at least, and she couldn't let things get weird betwen them. Well, w _eirder_.

She took his hand in hers. He tried to back it back, but she only held tighter.

"Hiccup, I'm sorry. I know why, I shouldn't have said it."

"Heather, it's..." She just continued, she knew he wasn't just upset with her words, he was upset from what her words reminded him of, he was still angry at himself.

"I also know you would do anything to take it back. In fact, you did, when no one else could have. Hiccup is with Toothless- _you_ are with Toothless because of _you_ , and I think it's about time you forgive yourself when he clearly forgave you. 'Cause you see, last night I went to see a Nightfury with a crazy person and the two of them seemed to get along pretty well."

"Heather... thank you. Really, I... I needed that."

She smiled, and they stared at each other's eyes for a couple of seconds, until the boat jolted forwards and they averted their gaze, both blushing. So much for not making this weird... maybe it was a good weird?

"D-do you mind if I have my hand back now?" Hiccup asks.

Heather, only noticing now that she was still holding onto his and, found herself a deeper shade of red.

"Oh, right, sure... hm... sorry about that..." She answered, releasing her hold on his hand, though still lingering there for a moment.

"It's fine, I'm... I'm really glad you did." He answered with a smile, slighty squeezing her own hand for half a second, before they finally let go of each other's hands, that were burning from the contact, but cold without it.

The small distance to the island was still made in an awkward silence, but at least they were good-even if none of them knew exactly what that meant.

* * *

The distance to the isle was bigger than it looked, they arrived only at dusk, so they didn't have time to explore the island to see if it was safe. Instead, they just built a fire and decided to take turns sleeping. Hiccup had slept like he hadn't in a long time. The more time he spent there, the more distant his reality was, the better he slept, and his talk with Heater had certainly helped. She had awoken him, so now it was his turn to watch, but the night was calm so far.

Hiccup was staring at her while Heather slept. She looked so peaceful, it gave him a warm feeling in his stomach. He shamefully realized what he was doing and he adverted his gaze to the unmoving landscape around them, when he saw shadows in the distance. He couldn't distinguish what it was, though it seemed to be two dragons. Not seeing an immediate threat though, he just continued to watch.

Until he heard roars and saw flashes of light on the other side of the island, that is. He quickly woke Heather, for them to be ready in case anything happened. No more than a couple of minutes later, the sound stop, and the night grew calm once again. Neither of them was able to went back to sleep. At first light, they started moving to the site of the fight.

* * *

He was getting ready for the second day of dragon training when he saw a Terrible Terror flying up to him.

Hiccup quickly hided, and nervously removed the letter from the dragon, wondering if somethig was wrong, after all, it was too soon, there was no way Rider had reached Outcast Island to do whatever he had to do _._ The boy, concerned for his friend's safety, quickly unfolded the paper.

 _Hello Hiccup. I hope you and your friend are alright. I'm sending this message now because there was a change of plans and I might take longer than expected. We stopped on an island for the night but we found 'someone' injured, and we're taking care of her, so Outcast Island will have to wait. And we decided to make a detour before that. What I told you before still stands though, I'll send you a message when we're done._

 _I hope the smithing and the whole training is going well. Just remember, your true strengh comes in thinking smart and acting fast to take advantage of weak points, train and you will easily beat the viking's brute strengh. If you need to contact me, just send a message the way you received it. Stay safe, Rider._

Again, Rider had a way of telling things without actually revealing anything. But at least in the letter he understood, the way he wrote meant he was clearly worried someone else would read it. When they were alone though... he tried not to think to much about it.

The young viking petted the little messenger and returned to his house with him. He grabbed a piece of papper and some charcoal.

 _Hello Rider..._


	17. Letters

**A/N** ok, this chapter is in letter format, i hope you like it, if you dont, i can change it. either way, next chapter will be "normal" again.

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Letters**

 _Hello Rider._

 _I really hope you and your friend are ok, and that whoever you found is recovering quickly._

 _I have no idea how I'm supposed to go through dragon training, it's been only the first day and they're already suspicious. It's me, the twins, Snotlout, Fishlegs and Astrid. I doubt the twins or Snoutlout thought much about it, but the other three (with Gobber) know something's wrong. Or maybe they're just surprised and I'm being paranoid, but I'm not liking this. As to what happened though: Gobber wanted us to survive versus a Gronkle, and he believes on 'learning on the job'._ That _meant releasing a female Gronkle before telling us anything at all._

Rider chuckled. He may not have gone through dragon training, but it seems Gobber's training for dragons and blacksmithing is the same.

 _I went for the shields immediately, and they looked at me like I had grown a dragon head, but soon followed. I hear Gobber shouting something about survival, so I tried to hide in one of the corners to both survive and not attract more attention. The twins were the first to go, facing a dragon and fighting over a shield (because it had a skull on it, I wonder how stupid those two can get) is certainly not a good idea, and the dragon blasted the shield of their hands. Fishlegs was the second, he geeked out when Gobber asked the Gronckle's shot limit, and failed to pay attention to the dragon. By that time, Gobber was shouting at me to get out of my hideout, which makes no sense since the lesson was to survive, but I had no choice but to obey. Snotlout was next, distracted by Astrid. I can't really blame him though, I'm ashamed to say I took the next shot for the same reason. I wish I could just forget her, among all the other things, she is a dragon-killer to be._

Rider shook his head, he remember how he felt at that age, but Hiccup couldn't afford the distraction. Unfortunately, he also knew that there was nothing he could do to stop it, except telling him to focus, and that wouldn't do a lot of good. He wondered idly for a second if she and Hiccup could have a future together. Sure, he did for a little while, but only because he had been killer. Could Astrid change? Watching from the outside gave him a diferent perspective for sure, a not very good one at that, but as he said to himself before, it was Hiccup's decision and he wouldn't change it, so he just tried to surpress the memory and keep reading.

 _Either way, I tried running for the shield but I got cornered by the dragon. Before shooting me though, she got close enough that I managed to 'punch him' in that special spot in the chin him and she fell. By then, everyone was staring at me dumbfounded, and I just got out of there quickly. Gobber recovered faster, and sent the dragon to his cage again._

 _"A dragon will always, always go for the kill." I still heard him tell the others, before dismissing them._

 _Vikings are really thick-headed, how could have they not seen what I saw? Specially Gobber who always trains the recruits should have picked up by now how that isn't true. The Gronkle had perfectly clear shots, specially against the twins and Fishlegs, and yet he shot the shield to disarm them instead. Even face to face with me, he gave me enough time to 'take him down'. I still wonder why, though. After all, we are fighting them. Do they think they will be killed if they kill us? Or is it because we are young? I have no idea, but everyone else seems completly oblivious to all of this. What they did see though, is how I took down a Gronkle with my bare hands. I really don't need that kind of attention right now. Even if it would be from Astrid._

 _After visiting our friend I went to dinner in the Hall. Snoutlout didn't block the space for once, but I still sat away from them. They surprised me by moving to my table, didn't the fact that I purposely sat away from them tell them I didn't want the company? I ate in silence as they tried to act like everyone were good friends, where they really that hypocrite? One day they hate me, the other they go around acting like everything's ok, without a single apology from anyone?_

Rider remembered when that happened with him too. It was what he had wanted for so long, but then it just felt wrong. And if he had prefered alone instead of the hypocritical attention, he was sure Hiccup would very much prefer Toothless' company. At least Fishlegs was ok before, he definitly deserved a chance now. Astrid was a special case for sure, but the others, he didn't really know if they deserved a second chance or not, in his time they hand't had enough time to mend relationships.

 _After I was finished, I quickly left for the forge, to work in the project,_ _I didn't have much success with the project yet, I guess it will take some time, and I can only work in it at night. If you have some suggestions, I would also love to hear them._

Rider did know more about dragon and smithing than Hiccup, but he also never had built a tailfin before. It had been his idea, but he didn't know how to make it. The tail couldn't be flamable though, if they were going to be around dragons. _A downed dragon is a dead dragon._ He thought, afraid for Toothless. But that was just it, the motivation that Hiccup needed.

 _I have to go now, for dragon training. Return soon, Hiccup._

* * *

"Hey, Heather?" A man says to a black-haired woman taking care of a RazorWhip. He left her take care of the Razorwhip, the same way he let Hiccup take care of Toothless, he approached when his help was necessary and often enough for her to know he was a friend, but mostly left them alone.

"What?" The woman said, not taking her green eyes away from the dragon next to her.

"Don't worry girl, you're going to be flying out of here in no time." He heard her whisper. He smiled to himself, there was no way the dragon would fly away from them after this. It wasn't the same as Hiccup and Toothless, but he was certain they were going to have a very strong connection too. He wondered how long would take until she realized this. His concern though, was if it should really be _this_ Heather to stay with the dragon.

"You know she's going to need a name, right?

"What?"

"Unless you want to call her dragon, I guess that could work."

"No, hm... You like Windshear, girl?

The dragon crooned in acceptanced, nuzzling her chest.

A Terror flying up to Rider broke the conversation.

He was silent while reading the letter and then picked up some charcoal and paper to write a response. Heather couldn't help feeling a bit jealous. It must be great to be able to talk to yourself outside your brain, it's literally the friend that always understands you, and that you can trust no matter what. She considered the possibility of also being jealous for stealing Rider's attention, but she just shook her head and returned her attention to Windshear.

* * *

 _Hiccup,_

 _Please wait a week until you send a reply, unless it's urgent. If we send to many messages, we are more likely to get caught. In one week I should still be here, but ready to go if the recovery goes well_. _Then maybe two more weeks to take care of things before I return, I want to be there before the next raid and the final exam. Honestly though, I still have no idea what to do about that. There's no way for peace while the Queen is still out there, and I see no way of killing it, unless we ask for the Bewilderbeast help, which I'm not really sure it would work. A chief protects his own, I don't think the Bewilderbeast would leave his 'village' unprotected to deal with that._

 _That seems quite the day, however, please try not to almost die next time, stay focused. If you see they are getting to suspicious, ask one for a friendly spar, I recommend one of the twins, they're good, but not as brute as Snot and not as competitive as Astrid. Doesn't matter if you win or loose, the point would be for you to show that you have learned to fight, impress them, so they don't overthink what you accomplished in the ring. Don't do it unless it's really necessary though, for now just make sure nobody's following you._

 _And maybe try to talk to Fishlegs. You need someone your age to talk to and from what you told me, he seems nice and intelligent._

 _As for your project, I can't really tell you what to do, specially without looking at it._ _You need to get it to work soon though, a downed dragon is a dead dragon. If you put your mind into it, I'm sure you can figure it out. I do recommend making it fire-proof with some dragon scales, but that's only after you've finished it._

 _Stay sharp, stay safe, Rider._

* * *

Hiccup understood Rider's reasons, he also didn't want to get caught, but he was still upset to have to wait a week to be able to "talk" to him again. When the time came though, he eagerly started to write his letter.

 _Hi Rider,_

 _Dragon training itself is actually going well. The training just after I sent you the last message was the worst. I went to training, and Gobber released a Nadder. I tried staying at the edge of the ring talking to Gober, but next thing I know, Astrid falls on top of me, and the Nadder approaching. That meant Astrid swinging her axe (with my shield attached from when they collided in the fall) to him. She then shouted something about me choosing what said I was._

 _But after that, it was good. I realized she was right. So now im trying my best, and I'm being able to 'knock them out' or put them back to their cages before the others. We really need to do something about the final exam though, since I'm probably going to be chosen. Which, in turn, is making Astrid angry and jealous._ _She seems to think something is going on, the last two days I found her following me to training. I managed to loose her, but she could cause some trouble in the future. The good news is that she's the only one who seems to think something's wrong, the bad news is that the rest of them don't leave me alone either, though for now it's managable._

 _You were right about Fishlegs though. He is being a good friend these past few days and he actually apologized, unlike the others. He is also smart, and we discuss lots of topics, except dragons. I know he wants to know more, and seems annoyed every time I change topics, but I can't really tell him anything, and I'm starting to feel bad lying to him. I'm starting to wonder if I could tell him the truth since he isn't like the others, but I won't tell him what you told me if you don't want me to._

 _I've managed to get the invention to work for a couple of minutes, but I always end up falling. It's the most complicated thing I ever made and I can't even ask Gobber for help. I'm just afraid I can't get it working in time._

 _I hope you can do whatever it is that you're doing. Waiting for your reply, Hiccup_

* * *

Rider had predicted correctly. In a week time, though not fully recovered, Windshear was strong enough to fly with carrying them, and was now inseparable from Heather. Rider knew he could also count on Windshear, though she would always choose Heather over him, He didn't mind, that's what he would want as well.

He saw a Terrible Terror in the air directed towards them, and he knew what that meant. He quickly read the letter and started writing his own.

 _Hiccup,_

 _I'm afraid this must be our last letter in a while, where I'm going, I don't think won't be communicate without being spotted. If it's REALLY urgent, send it, otherwise wait. I will find a way to send you one again in two weeks unless something goes terribly wrong._

 _We will figure something for the exam later, but I'm proud of you. About Astrid, try to follow her for a couple of minutes before leaving. If you follow her, then you can be sure she's not following you. And_ _I'm really glad you found a friend. I trust your judgment on this, do what you feel it's right, I gave you the information, it's yours to do as you please, just be careful, that kind of knoweldge can be very harmful in the wrong hands._

 _See you soon, Rider._


	18. Flying

**A/N Reviews:**

 **carton lover** , dont want to give spoilers, but i also dont want you to get disapointed. there will be a couple of moments between them, but this is **not** an Hiccstrid story, im sorry, i really hope you will still like the story. i do realize when i rewrote chapter2 i made them closer, but its pre-flight-astrid+ "viking" hiccup, not the "real" hiccup. Not that hiccup isnt a viking, but i think you understand, if not,i think it will get pretty clear in the next chapter anyway.

 **ivan ganev,** to be blunt, I dont understand half of your reviews. but i did really like the review of chapter 17, there are some things i had thought of already, others that i didnt and will include, others that i didnt and wont include, but i cant say which is which without spoiling the story, all in due time.

* * *

 **Chapter 18: Flying**

Windshear silver body was soaring through the clouds. She was still recovering, so they were flying slowly, but that just made the view more magnificent. It wasn't the first time for Rider, but he was still amazed by the sight. It made him completly forget the earlier worry of having to camp for the night due to the slower speed. Not that he was upset, the dragon health would always come first, but it was still an unwelcome delay. He relaxed and just enjoyed the calm flight with the beautiful woman in front of him.

As for Heather, at first she was hesitant to climb atop the dragon. She went in the front, between them, she was the one that knew the way the better. That meant she would have the better view, but it was also her that would withstand the stronger winds. She felt Hiccup's arm around her when they took off, but now they had leveled and he had released his grip, mantaining his arm around her. She could breath better, but she couldn't help but feel slighty gloomy at the loss of contact. But before she had a chance to deny her own feelings, they were gone, replaced by the simple sensation that could only be described as _free._

She didn't even feel the cold, she was just astounded by everything around her. Her hands went up to touch the clouds above her, but came out wet for her surprise. She could see some islands, but even the bigger ones now seemed insignificant from up there. _Everything_ seemed insignificant. Because in front of her was endless sky, as far as her eye could reach, and she was _flying_ through it. Bellow her was the endless ocean, with bits of land for when they would need to rest. How idiot it seemed fighting over a sheep now, when on the back of a dragon, you had the word at your feet. She vowed to ask Hiccup later if there was a way _she_ could really fly. Crazy, surely, but if anyone can do crazy, it would be Hiccup.

And as such her thoughts went back to Hiccup. This was amazing. He knew this was amazing. And he refused to do it for 20 years, because of what he did. She wondered if he would find another dragon, but one look at Windshear told her he wouldn't, it's simply irreplaceable. She tried to understand before, but only now all of it actually made sense.

Maybe, just maybe, if all went well, he could finally forgive himself. He was fixing things, and he was inadvertently fixing himself as well in the process. She could now see past the sad eyes, she saw more Hiccup in that week than the 20 years she was his chief. So maybe, just maybe, she could convince him to fly with her in the future too. Just to return the pleasure he had given her, she quickly added to herself.

As they roamed endlessly through the air, the sun was making his own trip through the sky, and they eventually had to land. They would need some minutes of daylight to gather wood for a fire.

Wood gathered, nothing better than a dragon to start a fire. They cooked some fish Hiccup had caught in the island while Heather was taking care of Windshear, and they gave some fish to the hungry dragon. Aparently, she was feeling like sharing, because they heard a noise and suddenly half a fish covered with dragon saliva was on Heather's lap. Hiccup just laughed, until that same half a fish flew to his face from an angry Heather, now the laughing swapped places. Hiccup was now slighty angry himself, but the laugh of the woman in front of him washed it away and he was smiling at the sight. He really didn't mind taking more fishes to the face if it meant that beautiful sound would continue, even though he would rather pass on the dragon spit, that thing didn't wash out.

Rider made a motion to throw the fish back at her and she flinched so hard she would have fallen if she wasn't seated. However, he changed the trajectory at the last moment and the fish went straight back to Windshear's mouth. Now they both laughed, and suddenly she felt how the dragon curled up around her, with her head in her lap. The laughing stopped but the smile remained. She laid back on the dragon, while petting her head.

"Everything we know about you guys, is wrong."

She looked at the cause of all of this, who was watching them with a grin on his face. But this time, it was not the bittersweet smile he wore so often, that she associated with him being happy for them, but sad for what he had lost, it was a real smile, no other worries or thoughts, just them three, there in peace, happy.

Windshear, upset over the rejected offering, planned a little 'revenge'. Heather failed to see the mischevous grin of the dragon, and a tail swing later, Hiccup had been pushed to stand closer to her. Too close to her, and she suddenly felt her cheeks burn. They had been closer in the air, but it was a necessity, and she didn't actually see him nor him, her. Besides the fact that before they were flying, and very few worries could compete with that thrilling and flabbergasting experience.

Now, they were face to face. Heather could see him as red as a tomato. In fact, redder than a tomato, a better comparison would be as red as she knew she was. They tried to back away, but the dragon around them wouldn't allow them. She could hear his ragged breathing, and it was sending shivers down her spine, along with sparks down her stomach. The good kind. But she was a shieldmaiden. And she was the chief of Berk. But the part of her mind that wanted it to happen, a very tempting part, was saying that there, she wasn't chief of Berk. There, she was as free as when she was flying, and she could be what she wanted.

"Heather..." She heard Hiccup say softly. The air out of his mouth flew to her face, and she panicked, she knew she was loosing control.

"Windshear!" She suddendly yelled.

The dragon responded, but not the way she wanted, it was the final part of her plan, if they hadn't get on with it already. With another move of her tail, the only thing Heather felt was the warmth of Hiccup's body pressed tightly against hers.

She saw his beautiful forest eyes, while his mouth was muttering excuses. But the emotion in those eyes took the last control she had, and she very efectively shut him up with her own mouth.

Windshear had taken her flying again, but in a whole diferent manner.

Heather vowed that the next time she would eat the fish to make it up to her.


	19. More than friends

**A/N** Heathercup chapter, no advance in the plot so if you feel unconfortable, it is possible to skip this chapter. nothing big happens though, its for sure covered by the T rating.

* * *

 **Chapter 19: More than friends**

"Everything we know about you guys, is wrong."

He was staring at her without realizing, until he suddenly felt something on his back and he was pushed towards Heather. He saw her go red and he felt his own cheeks burning as well. As he tried to back away, he realized he trapped by Windshear's tail.

His first thought went to Astrid. His first love, and she loved him back. But it wasn't really him she loved. It wasn't the clumsy and awkward, geeky and smart, curious and reckless, determined and stubborn boy. She loved the dragon-killer, hero, training boy, but that was all a facade, he hated being those things. He admired her strengh, her skill, her determination, her fearlessness, her beauty, overlooking her anger and temper.

But she had always ignored him, she only gave him time of the day after his most despictable act. Always training, always practising. He also thought of Hiccup's letters, the jealousy and suspicion that she showed just because someone was besting her at training (not that she didn't have reason to suspect something...). But she hadn't lived her short life, she had survived, and if it hadn't been in that particular dragon raid, he realized she would have died in the next raid. Or the one after that. Or the other until she finally reached Valhalla. Because she would fight any dragon that was in front of her to prove she was the best, until a dragon would prove her wrong. He wanted nothing of that, he wanted someone who would fight only to protection, not for glory.

He wanted the face that looked worried when he was sad (which had been almost always), that tried to talk with him, even if he wouldn't say anything, and he apreciated those talks more than he let on. That went to sharpen her axe more often that it needed to. That tried to give him an apprenctice for some company (which hadn't worked as it reminded him of Gobber, but a nice gesture nontheless). That went to search for him, and went 20 years back in time to do so (even if he was pretty sure that she didn't do that part on purpose). That listened to him, believed in him, and faced a Nightfury just because he asked her to. And that was face to face with him right now.

"Heather..." He started, but he wasn't really sure what he was going to say, as her close proximity was starting to dull his brain. He was cut off when she screamed something he didn't understand. He awoke from the semi-transe he was in for a moment, but in the next, he felt the same feeling in his back as before, and he was pushed into her. He felt her soft body under him, her curves pressing onto him, and his mind went blank, while a milion excuses were flying out of his mouth at the same time, then he fell silent. Because she was kissing him. Passionately.

His brain was frozen, and it was his first real kiss, he had no idea what to do. Luckly, he didn't need his brain for this. Without thinking, he returned the kiss and put his hands on her back to pull her closer to him. He felt her hands on his hair as she deepened kiss. One of her hands moved from his hair to his neck, while onen of his moved from her back to her waist. He gasped, and she took as an invitation to let her tongue enter, and they were suddenly on a fiery, wet battle for control, as each one tried to find its way into the other's mouth.

They parted for air for a second, and she removed her shirt. He froze again at the sight of her almost naked upper body. Whilw her breast-bidings were still there, he couldn't help but stare at her mostly uncovered torso. Scars and muscle clearly were visible or her exposed skin, left by years of trainig with her axe. He unconsciously slided his hand from her waist, through her side, to her slighty defined abs, but the sight also had the side-effect of making him more self-conscious of what they were doing.

He made a big effort to make sure his brain was still there, then allowed himself to continue, but always making sure his brain had some saying in what was going to happen. She started to kiss him again, more fervently this time, and he didn't mind returning the favor one bit. He let one of his hands trace a small scar on her abdomen, and he felt her shiver under him.

She broke apart and he was afraid he had done something wrong, but that thought was swept away when her hands started undressing his shirt. He lifted his arms, and his shirt was quickly thrown off to join hers. His body had its own markings, muscle and burns, as years working in the forge had taken their toll. Their lips found each other's wet warmth again, while he felt her hand exploring his exposed chest, then going down to his stomach. The warmth was intoxicating, he felt his skin burn wherever she touched, which was his entire upper body by now. His own hands were exploring her body, but still careful to avoid her bindings.

But when he felt her hand on his stomach starting to descend again, trying to remove the knot from his pants, he screamed to himself for help, to the part of his brain he had been making sure that was awake during all... that. He let himself taste her sweet lips once more, then he gently but firmly grabbed her naked shoulders and put a little distance between them. They were both panting, but she was glaring at him.

"Heather..." He started slowly. He had to thread carefully, he no idea what she was feeling besides anger, or what was behind the anger to be exact. Was it love, or just lust? He really hoped for the first, but if it was, he didn't want to loose it the hour he found it. If it was only the second, he would be glad he had stopped it.

"We...can't."

"Why not? Who is here to stop us? Hell, we're 20 years away from home. I can do what I want, so, the only question is, what do you want? Don't you want me?"

Hiccup didn't expect such an answer. His first felling was guilt. Not from stopping, but he realized that he hadn't left anything behind him when he came here, but Heather did. _Home._ Would it be possible to go back? He had no idea. Even if he rebuilt his machine to sent him 20 years to the future, who he couldn't be sure it would be possible, to which future would they be sent to? He wasn't sure which one he wanted in the first place, not that he would have a saying in it. He really hoped this future would be better than his, but it wasn't where he really belonged, he would always be an outsider. Not to mention if he just appeared 20 years later in this future ... they would of course recognize him, they only hadn't already because of the impossible situation. He made many choices during his life, and he had to learn to live with them. But it wasn't fair for Heather to join the long list of people that were damaged by his choices. And now he could live knowing that somewhere there was a happy Hiccup, and that itself made him happier as well. If he could get back that is. His mind went back to the the present to the ever growing scowl on Heather's face, as he realized he was taking too long to answer.

"Sorry, I went a bit sidetracked when you mentioned home, and started to think if it was possible to come back when all of this is over..."

She relaxed ever so slightly, he was still supposed to continue. He couldn't answer her question, though, there was no good answer. If he said no, he was going to loose her. But if he said yes... he also knew he would regret it. So he decided to answer her first question, not the second one.

"I want... to do things right." She was taken aback by his answer and waited for him to continue.

"You usually start with friends... then more then friends... then boyfriend... then husband... then father..."

"And even if we're not young anymore, I really dont want to inverse that order..."

He didn't know where his courage had come from before, but now, as he waited for her, it had all gone away. He was more terrified than when he was facing the Queen, he felt too exposed and uncertain. He observed her closely for any signs of what was to come, and he felt her own gaze on him. She seemed resignated at first, but a small smile broke in her lips soon after, like if she had finished processing what he had said. At her grin, he let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"I'm sorry." She finally said.

"This stupid reptile brought you so close, and I just... lost control and had to kiss you. And when you kissed me back... I was just so happy because I thought that you felt the same as I do... but then you stopped... I just- I was upset for stoping, but mostly... mostly I was afraid that you didn't, that I was wrong before, and it made me a little angry." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "But I'm definitly glad that this happened, and that you did. Both respond and stop, I mean..."

They stayed in an unconfortable silence, as there was still much to be said, and they were still too close to each other. It had grown dark and it seemed the dragon was already asleep, so there was no way to get more space now, and no way to get to their shirts back. He seemed to have the same thoughts as her, as he pulled her close to him for warmth, in a completely platonic way, since the movement was awkward as if he was pulling her close but what he wanted was to get away, it was not natural as moments before. And she wasn't going to spend the night like this, she withdrew herself to look at him before breaking the silence.

"Hiccup?" He looked at her tiredly, but she had his attention.

"Are we... friends?" It took him a while to process the strange question, but he responded without even thinking of why she had made the odd question.

"Hm... yeah, I guess?"

"More than friends?" She asked him, looking him in the eye.

He completly understood this time. He rubbed the back of his neck unconsciously, like he always did when he was nervous. There were a milion thoughts flying through his brain, but none at the same time.

"If-if you want to..."

She didn't continue the conversation. Not by words anyway. She returned to him, resting her head on his shoulder and put her hand on his chest, and he answered with one arm around her, resting his head on hers, and this time there wasn't any unconfortable silence, nor any awkardness, only the rise and fall of both chests as they held each other. That silent conversation was all that they both needed, and soon after they were sleeping peacefully.


	20. Oswald

**A/N** Hello. Been a long time, lack of time, and a little lack of will to tell the truth, but i can assure i will never give up on this story. i will try a weekly update, though favs, follows and reviews go a long way for inspiration. A very special thanks to **scorpio** for asking for the updates. Monday wasn't possible, but its here now, i hope its enough and you guys continue to enjoy the story. For now, the story is going to focus on Rider/Heather until he crosses paths with Hiccup again (probably in 2chapters). when that happens, i will write what happened in berk during the time apart.

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Bersekers**

Rider woke up early that day. He stiffed when he noticed her, then relaxed again and smiled, wondering how he could get up without waking her. His efforts were futile though, as she started to shift and slowly blinking her way to consciousness.

Heather stood there for a few seconds, smiling as she stared at the kind green eyes who were staring back, feeling the steady beat on his chest and the warmth and confort of the arm around her. She was a good warrior, but she wouldn't trade his arm around her for an axe in her hand.

"Morning." He said softly

"Morning." She answered back, pecking his cheek and leisurely starting to get up.

A couple of minutes passed while they got ready to go, and soon they were in the air again.

Rider was deep in thought while in the air. Heather seemed to notice his discomfort, so gave directions to Windshear and shifted in the dragon to talk to him face to face.

"What's wrong?" She inquired, but afraid of the answer.

"Hm, nothing, but we need to talk..."

The tone in which he spoke told her it couldn't be something she liked. Was he regretting what they had said the night before? She felt her stomach drop at the possibility, but decided to ignore it. She didn't know what he was going to say, so she would wait. And if the worse came, she certainly wouldn't let this take control of her.

Hiccup himself wasn't sure of what the previous night exactly meant, but that was actually only half of his concerns. They would be sure to discuss _that_ , but for now they had more pressing issues...

"...about your stay in Outcast Island..." She was so focused on _them_ she had almost forgot about their mission. It wasn't what she expect to hear - but it certainly wasn't better either.

"...and who will receive us in the Berserkers." And things didn't exactly get better. Did he really expect her to just tell him everything about the messed up relationship with his father and brother? She guess he did needed to tell him something, but it was him that continued to talk.

"Do you know if it's Oswald or Dagur in charge at this moment?"

"I was still in Outcast Island..." She tried not to flinch at the memories. She rarely did, but knowing another her is suffering the same fate doesn't help at all.

"Ok... then we need a plan for each, it would be completly diferent depending on who it is."

"If its my father, I think we can just tell him "Heather" is in Outcast Island. He will probably believe if I show him my horn, if worst comes, I think we can trust him with our secret. Unfortunately, for Dagur, I don't think it's possible to make a plan, just hope to get on the good side of his Derangesness. And there's no way we can tell him the truth."

"Ok, it's your tribe, you certainly know better. About the Outcasts... I know its hard, but we need to know what we are up against."

"It's... It's fine. I wasn't let out much, but I think there were around 200 men. They kept me and my parents in cages next to the dragons. If we have the help of the Berserkers, we can easily slip past there defenses while they fighting to get in, then if they can fight with us, we can release the dragons to ensure our way out."

"Sounds good... For backstory, I recommend being from one of the Peaceable tribes, and we were fishing when we were caught by the Outcasts. We met 'Heather' there, and she gave us the horn for us to find help when we escaped, however, she couldn't leave or they would kill here adoptive parents. Half truth lies are easier to mantain. And we met Windshear during our stay there, and she helped us escape and gave us a ride out of there."

"But I didn't know about the horn meant I was from the Berserkers at the time."

"But he doen't know that you don't know..."

She nooded, and took the queue to sit normally again, removing her hand from where it had somehow gone to meet his during the talk. But none of them were confident of this plan...

* * *

 _Berserker Island, a couple of hours later..._

A beautiful dragon with silver scales could be seen soaring through the sky. Not that anyone did, as the two riders aproached from the inhabited area, where they would find a good place to hide Windshear while they would enter the village. Bellow, two men were talking at the edge of a cliff, but from the faraway sky, Heather wasn't able to recognize them.

One of the man leaves, but the other stays, pensive looking at the horizont. A big boar comes out of the forest, startling the man, who turns around and draws his sword. But as he spun to face the boar, he trips over a small rock. Loosing balance, he barely parries the boar's atack, and stumble backwards... towards the edge, and the man finds himself falling.

As the duo of Riders watch, they have no choice but to save the man, even if they expose themselves. With luck, some reasoning and the blood debt (if someone saves your life, you are by honor indebted to that person) would be enough for the man to keep them a secret.

But as they dive and fetch the large man, dropping him in a deserted piece of land then dismounting the dragon to confront the man.

"Hello, I'm Heidi, this is Rider, and she's Windshear. And we need your help."

* * *

I stare at the duo, or actually trio, standing in front of me. I'm not dead yet, so that is good. Not only they didn't kill me, but they actually saved me... with a dragon. All of the experience as a chief, and I still have no idea what to do in this situation. I can't fight, or even run, so that leaves... talk. I'm about to introduce myself when the woman speaks.

"Hello, I'm Heidi, this is Rider, and she's Windshear. And we need your help."

"A dragon?"

"She's not dangerous... when she doesn't need to be, so don't atack her, and she won't atack you, we are all still alive here, aren't we?"

Swallowing, I nod.

"Oswald the Agreeable. What do you want?"

I see as the woman goes to a bag on her dragon, and returns with something in her hand. When she gives it to me, I can't believe what I'm holding. That horn, it's...

"H-How?"

"We were prisioners in Outcast Island, but we escaped... and Heather was there too, she gave us the horn for us to find help. We need to save her."

"So what you're asking, is for us to atack the Outcasts?"

Kidnapping a daughter of a chief was serious, and definitly enough to cause a war, but they probably didn't know she was my daughter. In fact, I didn't even know she was alive, and this information gave me great joy. However, it's also a very serious matter.

"Yes and no. You see, if you would atack the Outcats it would give us a distraction large enough to infiltrate their island and save her, then you retreat."

"I will discuss it wil the council."

The plan did sound good, but I can't tell them that just yet, and I can't make the decision alone. I turned to leave, but the woman spoke again.

"Sir? I trust you will keep Windshear a secret?"

"A chief won't be chief for long without keeping a few secrets."

 _And without knowing how to leave his options open._ However, she wouldn't have it.

"Will this be one of them?"

"Unless required otherwise."

That response seemed to anger her, probably because if truth got out, the dragon would be in danger. However, I can't fully commit to something like this.

"And I would like to have the horn back, sir."

The pleasent conversation seemed to be over, and her gaze had hardened, and the tone was forceful. But what right did she have to take my daughter's horn?

"It will be necessary as proof to the council."

She seemed even more angry, but nooded.

"We will be waiting in the forest north of the village. We expect you tomorrow, alone and with the horn."

And they flew off. And the 'Or else', not being said, was very much present. Leaving me to question what happened, and does the horn mean something to her? And why didn't the man speak?


	21. Crossroads

**A/N** Very late but was lacking inspiration, now i finally got to write a bit, its very short, doesnt do much to advance the story, but i didnt want to delay the update anymore and now the setup is done. Next chapter should be much longer and much quicker, i already have an idea how to conect the dots. Im really sorry for having to wait that long for so little but I hope you enjoy.

 **Review:** Guest- Next time you want to post a review, use a name, or I will ignore it. I love how you say you wont read since its not hiccstrid, but you read anyway, and how you say i dont like bad reviews when i hadnt even answered yours. i take suggestions, i love reviews (including bad ones if they are constructive), and i would love for people to love my story; i would change inconsistenses in the plot, or the way a scene is written, but other things, like the pairing, i wont change. You ask why heather instead of astrid? Im ok with almost any pairing (and i really like hiccstird, though my fav is camicup), but i just choose the one i wanted for this story. Also, personality has nothing to do with love, there are infinite diferent personalities, and i dont see all people falling in love for the same person. If you want to bash heather character though, she was a girl who put herself at risk trying to save her parents, and then again trying to stop dagur, and vigo. As for astrid, did you notice she is the only one to actually hit hiccup in the movie? not that i have anything particular against her, just dont talk as she if she was perfect.

* * *

 **Chapter 21: Crossroads**

They me the next day, though now they were both alone, Rider thought it was for the best in case they would try to trap them.

"Heidi."

"Oswald."

"We will go with your plan, but Dagur will lead the diversion and I will go with you, so when we are close, I will take a small boat to distance myself from the armada and you will pick me up. The horn may travel with you, but I want it returned to my daughter as soon as we find her. Ships are being prepared as we speak, we will set sail today, so we should be near the Outcasts in two week. They don't know who you are, I told them I was going alone, but if anything happens I left a letter telling everything."

Though it wasn't really a question, she noded, he handed over the horn, and she ran and jumped off the nearest cliff. Oswald looked shocked (and, truth be told, a little afraid as well) for a second, then remembered her companions, so just shook his head and went to oversee the preparations.

* * *

Astrid was getting more furious by the day. Her honor was being stolen by someone who didn't even seem to want it. She never thought she needed the attention, but now her peers were giving attention to _him_ instead, and she was angry. Fishlegs seemed to one day suddenly become closer to him, and she figured that for some reason Hiccup told him his secret.

She has no doubt he has a secret, no one gets as good as him, especially _him_.She tried everything for him to tell her, followed him around multiple times, but he knew and he was faster than he let on. She tried talking to Fish, he squealed and jumped, with sweat visible on his foreah from the nervousness, but he didn't say anything. Luckly for intelligent boy, she didn't do it in the dark. She even tried to be nice to Hiccup for a day, and while it was more enjoyable than she had expected, it didn't get her anywhere, and by the end of the day, she could no longer keep her temper in check, not after he beat her in training _again_.

Not that it was a surprise by now. In fact, dragon training had little interest now, while Hiccup had some spectators in the beggining, now, when Gobber letting a dragon out of the cage, the dragons went directly to Hiccup and fell, it lasted less than one minute. Did they enjoy being down? It made no sense. She tried to stick next to Hiccup (to also be closer to the dragons, of course), but the dragons fired at her, never harming him. It was downright weird. _Weirder._

They were just waiting for the return of the ships for the elder officially decide who would have the _honor_ of killing the Nightmare, Astrid was getting more desperate by the day.

* * *

 _~Two weeks later~_

A small boat could be seen leaving a large fleet of ships, a silver dragon above flew unnoticed.

* * *

A young man was working in the forge when a green Terrible Terror landed on his head, unnaware of the blue eyes watching him. The dragon left, and he kept working, even faster, he was very close, but his deadline was closer than he thought.

* * *

A single ship returned to the docks.

"I trust you found the nest, at least?"

"Not even close..."

* * *

 ** _-Hungerhungerhungerhungerhungerhunger-_**

A voice inside their heads kept repeating. It would mean death for many of them, but the Queen was getting hungry, they would have to go get food soon, unless they would be food instead...


	22. An eventful day

**A/N** I expected to go a little further than this in this chapter, but the chpter was getting big (for me at least, i prefer 1,5-2k words), and i think i can write the next chapter already this weekend (maybe, no promises).

 **Review:** Guest: All it takes is an email to create an acc, that way it is possible to answer to reviews without having to post a new chapter and without filling story space, and unless its something that concerns the other readers, i r prefer to respond in pm, so if you were to create an acc, i would be able to continue this without boring the other readers.

* * *

 **Chapter 22: An eventful day**

A small boat made its way through the water, a single man was rowing in the direction of a very small island, when he felt talons gripping his shoulders and taking him into the air. He struggled in the beggining, but after a moment they were to high for him to try to free himself. If he accomplished it, it would mean certain death. Luckly, the uncomfortable journey lasted only a couple of minutes, before he was dropped off in the island he was aiming for. He saw as the dragon landed in front of him, then two familiar people jumping off of the dragon.

"Couldn't you just tow the boat or something!?" He growled.

Unfortunately for the man, a dragon does a much for efficient growl.

"We could, but it wouldn't be as much fun." Remarked one of the riders.

"What Rider means is that Windshear was already carrying three people, she could have, but it would be tiring."

"And we're sorry for carrying you on her claws instead of back, but it was the fastest way, specialy since we didn't have to argue if you wanted to ride her or not. But if you want, Heidi can give you a proper, enjoyable ride, we still have time before dusk. You haven't lived until you have a proper dragon ride." Rider tried to somewhat amend the situation, it wouldn't be good to have a Berserker chief as your enemmy.

"Thanks, but no thanks, if we still have time, why doesn't your dragon go back and bring me my boat?"

"The Outcasts will spot easily the boat in the distance, we need to go on Windshear, it will be faster and safer."

"How is a dragon safe?"

"Sure, she's dangerous, which means that our enemmys fear her, hence safer for us."

He grumbled something about devils, but Rider could see that not only he was in league with the plan, mainly because he would do anything to save his lost daughter, but that the old traditions in the mind of the chief were beggining to have small cracks, he was sure they would break later on.

The rest of the day was spent in silence, the tension was visible in their faces, the fear of a failed mission, even if none of them admitted it.

* * *

Hiccup's life had never been so complicated as after Rider showing up. He had more friends, though all of them would be banished if the tribe ever found out. The tribe loved him, but for all the wrong reasons, besides conveniently forgetting all about before dragon training, without a single apology. And his crush started to notice him, but for all the wrong reasons again. It seemed she was never happy, not if he was screwing up, nor if he was doing good. She was beautiful, he still had no doubt about that, but he was starting to see more and more of the bad temper underneath, and he wasn't liking it one bit.

Nevertheless, he wouldn't have exchanged it for anything. That's why when he felt a Terror on his head, he quickly read his letter, which in turn explained the second letter (which he stashed in his vest), he put aside the parchment and redoubled his efforts to make the tailfin work. He needed to fly that night, it was the only thing Rider had asked of him until that moment, and he wouldn't let him, or Toothless, down.

When a fiery blonde barged in the forge, his first thought was if she had seen the Terror leaving. He figured it didn't matter though, his patience with her was beggining to run out. How dare she enter his workspace like she owned the place? Where she would cause even more accidents then he normally did, since she wasn't used to being inside the forge, a stupid action and the whole building _could_ explode. He went to meet her, to block her entrence, but her anger literally pushed him back. She was slightly shorter than him, but somehow still managed to tower over him. However, as he walked backwards, his resolve was still firm.

"I want to know what's going on. No one gets as good as you do. Especially you. Start talking! Are you training with someone?"

"I thought everyone knew I trained with Rider. None of your business though."

"It better not involve this!" She asked, picking up the letter from Rider. That really wouldn't be good. Against his better judgment, he, faster then she thought he was able to, took the letter from her hand and threw it against the furnace of the forge. He kept his other letter, but he had had time to stash them, in that moment it was safer to just destroy it. The letter he needed was still safe in his vest.

"Ups, so clumsy, you know me." He couldn't help it, sarcasm was his best form of defense. Not that it was a good one, it usually manages to make people even more upset.

Which was the case, Astrid went from angry to furious, the young femal warrior took the axe out of her back and pointed to his neck. If looks could kill, he would be dead, probably reduced to a pile of dust.

He remembered Rider's advice about a duel though. It would take her mind of the rest, it would show her he didn't know his abilitys, and it would delay their confront for the next day, which was much better, since he really needed to finish the fin before the night, when he had a rescue to perform.

"Really, here, in the forge? Not a good idea. What about tomorrow noon in the arena, oh mighty Astrid Hofferson?"

 _Did that twig just challenge me?_ She had no way of winning though. If she won, she would have won against what was supposed to be the worst viking in the archipelago. If she lost though, she would embarrass herself even further. She wasn't really thinking clearly though, and wanted more than anything to put that fishbone back into its place. She would use the challenge to beat him without felling guilty, here he was disarmed (even with all the weapons around), cornered and taken by surprise. Hardly any honour in that. Forgetting the real reason for coming, information, and deciding on revenge instead, she lowered her axe and left, thought not before threatening once more.

"You better be there."

He was glad it had worked to get her off him. Working again, he started to ponder his options. If he showed up and won, maybe he could gain enough respect to be listened to, even about dragons. If he lost though, it would be just another disapointment, he was used to that anyway. If he didn't even show up though, he could probably even be banished, such was the shame. Unless he exiled himself, if Toothless could fly, there was nothing else keeping him on the island. He would miss Gobber and Fish, but maybe it was worth it. He definitely had to speak to Rider first though.

* * *

It was afternoon when he finally managed to get a few minutes to go to the forge. He had seen the Hofferson lass leave earlier, red in the face, combined by what he heard of Hiccup doing so well in the ring, he felt proud. Maybe he should start speaking to the Hoffersons about a certain marriage contract? He was entering the forge, when Hiccup was also leaving, a strange contraption in his arm. They were viking, they didn't need those inventions, when would he understand that? Still, he was doing good, so maybe this time that thing wouldn't destroy the village. It wouldn't, but he wouldn't be very happy if he knew what it was for either. Hiccup tries to hide it behind him, but his small frame leaves little space for hiding.

"Dad! You're back! Gobber's not here, so..."

Stoick didn't know why, but somehow that felt that someone had stabbed him with a small knife. As in, he didn't even felt it.

"I know. I came looking for you."

That wasn't good, he didn't have time and that talk could take a while. While did everyone had to sought him out today?

"You did?"

"You've been keeping secrets."

"I...have?"

"Just how long did you think you could hide it from me?"

"I don't know what you're..."

"Nothing happens on this Island without me hearing about it."

"Oh?"

"So. Let's talk about that dragon."

"Oh gods. Dad I'm so sorry. I was going to tell you. I just didn't know how to…"

Stoick starts laughing. Hiccup stares, bewildered.

"You're not...upset?"

"What?! I was hoping for this!"

"Uh...you were?"

"And believe me, it only gets better! Just wait til you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time. And mount your first Gronckle head on a spear. What a feeling!"

Hiccup was feeling himself getting a little green.

"You really had me going there, son. All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough. I almost gave up on you!"

Leaving is sounding better by the second, he thought.

"And all the while, you were holding out on me! Thor almighty! With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about."

Hiccup averts his eyes, nervously.

(pause)

"I... brought you something."

He presents Hiccup a horned helmet.

"To keep you safe in the ring."

"Wow. Thanks."

Hiccup accepts it, looking it over, passing the hand over the hat. Does his father actually care? _No, he only ofered after thinking I was doing good in training, after all, he almost gave up on me._ Yes would be the right answer though, he just didn't know how to show it.

"Your mother would've wanted you to have it. It's half of her breast plate."

Hiccup removes his hand as if the helmet was burning. Still, he didn't have much from his mother, even if he had prefered something else.

Stoick tapes his own helmet and smiles.

"Matching set. Keeps her close, y'know?"

Hiccup slowly nods, torn between gratitude.

"Wear it proudly. You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal."

"I should, y'know, go…uh… training…"

" Of course, uh, good talk."

"Thanks for stopping by and the…uh, breast hat."

"Glad I stopped by…"

"Well, uh, bye, see you back at the house."

At that, Hiccup starts running to the woods, prostetic in hand, but it's stopped by Stoick again.

"And good luck with the Hofferson." Stoick says, completly oblivious again.

"Uh, thanks." Continuing running towards the cove.

* * *

Toothless seemed to know something was wrong, because that time he offered no resistence for Hiccup to atach the tailfin. As they soared through the air, Hiccup was just praying that the tailfin would continue to work. He had his cheat-sheet, but it was still dangerous to go out without further tests. He didn't have much choice though, he had to go the Outcast Island before nightfall.

As they flew though, they noticed something in the distance, that they later recognized as dragons. Tothless continued to fly ahead, not worried about the raid, but for Hiccup, that meant he would be missed in the village. More notice that he isn't there then worry about him, except Gobber, who needed him in the forge. And maybe his father, he was starting to show a little concern. He needed to hurry, and urged Toothless to fly faster. And faster he flew, it wasn't enough for the 'whistle', since for that he needed to be in a dive, but no other dragon could match their current speed.

As Outcast Island appeared in sight, the sun was setting, and he heard the horns from the Berserker Armada. He hoped he wasn't too late, he needed to get there before them...


	23. Escape

**A/N** Heres one more chapter, hope you like it. I would love some reviews as well, specially since they were none for chapter 22, and reviews are the best motivators to write. I actually had this a couple of days ago, was trying to write a bit more before posting but i am guetting late in the schedule again, thus this isnt a big chapter. i hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 23:** **Escape**

A black blur could _not_ be seen in the darkening sky, after all, almost no one had ever even seen a Nightfury before, the worried young boy on his back one of the very few exceptions. He was not only worried about the success of his current mission, worried that he might disappoint the first person who actually believed in him, but also worried about the dragons he saw flying towards his home. And to top it all, he wasn't sure about his future in Berk, if there was even one, considering his best friend would be ' _killed on sight'_. Were vikings with axes not ' _extremly dangerous_ ' as well?

The boy told the dragon to speed up as he heard the horns signalling the start of the distration battle, he didn't have much time. Luckly, the letter had said where he needed to go. Unfortunately, he was only able to read it once before having to burn it down. Toothless spotted the entrance first and he dove in, emitting some kind of pulse throughout the tunel.

"What was that, bud?"

Toothless warbled something in return, meaning Hiccup didn't get any wiser, asking question to Toothless mostly had to be yes or no questions for him to be able to understand the answer. They didn't have the time at that moment, but he would question more about it later. As they zoomed past some cages they tried, to no avail, to ignore the distress roars of the caged dragons. Nevertheless, with ears buzzing, they made it to his destination, a cell with three people inside, so they landed. The teenage girl was somehow familiar, but he couldn't place it. He stepped off the dragon, patting his snout instinctively before aproaching the bars.

"Heather?"

All three backed away from the door, who he assumed that was the husband put the wife behind him, which in turn put the girl behind her. For a moment he found it strange, nobody had backed away from him before. Then he remembered the dragon behind him and almost chuckled. Almost.

He heard a very small voice, saying something that he could only conclude it was something like 'yes?', so he swiftly removed the parchment he had secured in his clothes and threw it through the bars, to be caught by the man.

"You will be freed today, but you need to read that." _I hope._

Not wasting any more time, he didn't waiting for an answer, he quickly turned back, and when he was sure they couldn't see him anymore, he entered an empty cell, gesturing for Toothless to follow him, to which he responded with an 'are you crazy?' look and a snort.

"Come on, bud, it's what Rider said, we can't be seen. And the door won't be locked."

Truth be told, Toothless didn't fully trust Rider. He was mysterious, revealed very little and had a faint-but still there-scent of dragon blood. However, he had also spared his life and seemed focused on helping him and his small human, and he was grateful for everything, specially for being able to fly again.

So, hitting Hiccup's head with his tail to express his disapprovment, he entered the small, damp space, seeing the small viking closing the door, trusting it to be unlocked how his companion had said, even if he was somewhat crazy. He was pulled out of his toughts when he heard a _thud_ , no doubt a dragon landing, followed by a female voice he had recognized as Heather.

"Go to Heather, while we free the dragons."

A man passed by him, and he was confused. Wasn't he supposed to go to Heather, why was he running from her?

He wasn't the only one confused, even if it was for a diferent reason. Hiccup didn't hear Windshear arrive, nor Heather speaking, but he did see what was clearly Oswald 'The Agreeable' running in front of his cell. It made sense that he needed to hide, the man would also recognize him if he saw him, but it only rose more questions about Rider.

Why did they went to the Berserkers for help? Why did they help? And what was so important for the leader himself to go to a rescue misson instead of leading the battle? It made little sense, and he wasn't going to learn anything there. Once the berserker had passed, he made sure the tunnel was clear before moving out, hoping for the best.

He hopped onto Toothless and they swiftly glided in the direction of the exit. They spotted Rider trying to calm a Scauldron, while Heidi was behind him, hidden from their view, busy with a changewing. He wanted to go immediately, but knew better than to interrupt, less he spooks the dragon and someone finds themselves with a missing arm. As such, they landed a few meters away, and when Rider was done, they walked closer. Impressively, the scauldron put himself in front of Rider in a defensive position, albeit relaxing slighty upon realising the other human, besides small, carried no weapon and was working alongside his kin.

With a 'thank you' and a little scratch for his protection, Rider sidestepped to move past the dragon, grinning to Hiccup. Not only this would have been a complete desister without him, but he never thought he would miss himself and the black dragon so much after only being with them for a week. And this also meant Toothless wasn't grounded anymore.

"Hiccup! Toothless!"

"Hi Rider!

The delight in both voices was evident, and the Scauldron that was now behind him, snorted before spraying ( _not_ boiling) water at him and leaving. As if not soaked enough, Toothless decided to give him a saliva shower. He could hear Heidi and the changewing, and even some sill caged dragons laughing at him. For Heather's part, she felt she was finally seeing some of the real Hiccup, care-free and guiltless in those few seconds instead of the serious Hiccup he had become due to his not-so-pleasant experiences; and she definitly liked this Hiccup more. 'Real' Hiccup then noticed Heidi, and they exchanged an awkward stare follow for a very slightl small, before Heidi went back to the changewing, while Hiccup focused on Rider again, who was now throwing Toothless' saliva back at him.

"You know that doesn't wash out!" Rider complained to the black reptile, before adressing Hiccup again.

"Thank you for coming Hiccup, I'm very glad you could make it."

"S-sure." He answered, slightly embarassed, scratching the back of his neck. Heidi, who was still watching, grinned. The older he got the harder it was to fluster or embarass him, but some things never change.

Rider then moved to inspect the tail. He was impressed, though the fact that it wasn't fireproof worried him. With dragons nearby, it wouldn't do any good for the tail to flame.

"Very impressive, I'm really proud of you." Hiccup really beamed at that. What was the last time someone said that? _Right_ , that same day, when his father told him he almost gave up on him... His smiled faltered, but Rider was too busy eyeing the prosthetic tail to notice.

"Thanks" He then remembered the dragons he had spotted when coming here, and added:

"But I really need to go, there's a raid tonight..."

Rider's eyes widened at that. It was today? He may have begun to see her in a new not-so-bright light, but there was no way he was going to let her die... again.

" _What!?"_

"I saw some dragon heading for Berk on the way here, and I doubt they just want to say hi..."

"Heidi, free the dragons then talk to the others, meet me in the cove tomorrow-"

She frowned, she was _not_ okay with Rider giving her order. Nevertheless, there would be time for that later, she nodded, and he quickly mounted Toothless behind Hiccup.

"We need to go, bud, fast!"


	24. A raid to remember

**A/N** Here is the real chapter, thank you to all who continue to read this story. I still really need the reviews, good or bad, it takes one minute, but encourages me to write much sooner and tells me how to make the story better for you, if you like the direction this story is taking or not. Final decision will always be mine, but i do take suggestions. I will finish the story, but no reviews means it will be shorter.

To **sithot** : I think i covered your first points (hiccups doubt and riders guilt) but you are right, i didnt developed those feelings very much, i think its mostly because i dont like repeating the same thing over and over, even when its necessary im usually concise (also why my chapthers are short), but i am working on that, this is my first story and i am trying to improve (also why i need the feedback, so thanks again!).

About taking heather to berk: im sorry, i cant make it fit to the story. nobody even knows rider nor hiccup are from berk, so i dont have how to send them there. hiccup and heather will definetely meet again and have some screen-time together.

EDIT: (read only if you want to know, again, why heathercup): to guest (who already made a review of this chapter, but since the next one is going to take a while im answering now):i love when you question heathercup actually, it means you dont have worse things in the story to comment on. if you want to continue to question Heathercup, create an acc, its 2seconds, click sign up, choose nick and pass, put email, done, because it diferenciates guests from one another and i get to answer by pm so i dont continue with these long ANs to answer the same question over and over again. So about heathercup for the **last time** : In MY opinion, which you are free to agree or disagree, Hiccstrid is ok if in AUs, but in cannon, before the flight, astrid is way to violent and wants to be at the top no matter what, thats the astrid im going with, nothing against the changed astrid, i just think its too improbable to change her completle personality in one flight. Heather, while starting bad, is shown to be trying to save her family, and then take down daggur, then viggo, so i wont depict her as bad. She is smart enough (she helped with the fin of Toothless), and she actually made Hiccup forget the meeting Astrid (probably why so many people hate her, but it scores her points in heathercup imo). She is also a fierce warrior, which hiccup also seems into. Either way, in the story, Astrid is dead, so kind of hard to make it hiccstrid even if i wanted to (which i didnt). While Heather is there in charge of the Berk to allow him to stay and try to cheer him up, and when they both change time, they become closer by that secret. If you have an actual motive to dislike instead of disliking heathercup just because its heathercup, then feel free to say so, else its definitely going to be ignored.

* * *

 **Chapter 24: A raid to rembember**

In the air, Rider's priority was to give Hiccup a small flask of Nadder saliva, used to counter the same species poison. It was then decided that Toothless would leave Hiccup at the edge of the forest (where he would have to pass by Astrid to get to the forge, not that Hiccup knew), and then the remaining duo would remain airborn, watching out for dragons and vikings alike that looked like they were going to get killed, while remaining invisible against the night skies, which would be hard. Rider, unlike the Nightfury, doesn't blend into the night, and almost all vikings eyes would be in the sky. This also meant Rider would have to learn really fast how to operate the tailfin.

With still time to spare in the flight before arriving at Berk, Hiccup tried once again to get Rider to talk. He found that Heather was Oswald's daughter, which explained why they went to the Berserkers and why they helped, and that the woman traveling with him was named Heidi, but Rider was still a closed book when it came to pretty much everything regarding himself. Hiccup was getting tired of how one-sided the relationship was. He endured it though, because despite the secrets, he felt understood, and there was mutual trust there; he knew he could trust Rider with his life, he already had when he went to face a Nightfury (and pretty much everything after that), and Rider had trusted him with his knowledge, and for him to get Toothless in the air and go to his help.

And so the rest of the trip passed with Hiccup telling Rider about the two previous weeks, his rapidly developing friendship with Fishlegs; if Hiccup could see Rider's face, he would have seen the longing in his eyes for the friendship he never had.

The reaction to Fishlegs meeting Toothless was hilarous. Hiccup led the large boy through the woods at dusk, with a promise to meet a 'good dragon' and a request to leave weapons behind as not to scare him, to which 'Legs complied. A bit like the smaller boy himself, he wasn't one for violence. The fear-curiosity mixture that was exuding from him while they were aproaching the cove was almost palpable, but when he realized he was face-to-face with a Nightfury, the most elusive dragon, the fear was replaced with exciment; fifty questions coming out of the husky boy's mouth all at once. Toothless, he just had stood there with a bored expression until he deemed it enough and wacked him with his tail. The blonde jumped and let out a girlish scream, remembering the dragon was also the most deadly one, but just to restart the questions a moment later. It had been a long night.

* * *

Rider is high up in the sky, trying to remain unseen. It's actually the first time he is alone with the dragon, and he can't say he is confortable, the guilt is eating away at him the longer they stay together, as he is seeing the life he took while trying to make his father proud. Toothless senses discomfort and gives a soft warble to appease him, it may not be his little human, but he still cares for this strange man; after all, he wouldn't let just anybody ride him, and especially control his flight; but the Nightfury is surprised when the discomfort seems to worsen instead of making it better, so he lets go. The rider sights, he knows he did everything he could do to make it right, but an action can never truly be undone.

It's been a few minutes since he has dropped Hiccup and he has been trying to get used to flying Toothless, but now it's time to focus on saving lives, and Rider surveys the battle below. When they see everyone is safe (well, as safe as one can be while fighting fire breathing animals or brute, axe-wielding vikings), they dive, leaving a screech that has the mighty vikings cowering, and they blast a torch, a victimless crime that helps them and the other dragons remain unseen.

When they are pulling up though, they notice a blonde girl is chasing a Nadder. Before they can do anything, the Nadder turns and shoots spines at the girl, who stops and raises her shield in defense. However, she forgets to duck and one of the spines founds its way to her leg. Having given the flask of antidote to Hiccup, there's nothing he can do except look for him. They are hovering high above the scene, searching for Hiccup when they notice a blonde young man running towards the Nadder, and Toothless shots a small plasma blast that sends him backwards without killing him.

Suddenly something clicks, the young blond was Tuffnut, while it had been Ruffnut that had been shot. Strangely, nothing seems to change for him though, there's not extra nor less care for the young teen, and he realizes what he already knew, it had been only a childhood crush, afterwards followed by guilt. He sees Tuff running towards the Nadder again but he notices something he hadn't noticed before so he doesn't interfere, and, sure enough, he runs past the Nadder to embrace his dying sister.

The Nadder flies off, and that's when he sees Hiccup running towards them, he assumes he hid an eel somewhere, but he can't be sure at that distance. He drops to his knees besides the twins and takes out the flask. After a moment, he sees Hiccup hands the flask to Tuff and continues running in the direction of the forge.

He spends the next few hours in the skies, shooting everytime he sees a dragon or viking aiming a killing blow. Strangely enough, he never spots Astrid. He can't spot every kill though, and by the end of the raid he is exhausted both physicly and mentally, and just directs Toothless to the cove where he just lays down to sleep, not really realizing he is using Toothless' wings as a bed.

* * *

Hiccup was on the edge of the forest. Rider had just took off again, and he started running towards the soon-to-be-flameing village. The alarm had already been sounded, but he could still some of the vikings exiting their houses. As he made his way to the forge, he was surprise by the lack of shouts for him to get inside. A nice change, for sure, but he wasn't sure what would happen if people knew exactly why he had gotten so good in dragon training. He was inclining towards exiled, but deah wouldn't be out of the question for treason. He didn't think he was betraying his tribe, but he knew that the village would.

Halfway through, he noticed a blonde girl he instantly recognized. He slowed down slighty, changing directions slighty as to continue in the direction of the forge while passing closer to her. Dragon training was not over, but the only round left would be to decide who would get the 'honor' of killing the Nightmare in front of the entire village, so while not mandatory yet, they were allowed to fight. Hiccup didn't want to fight, though the teen he was watching had no such problem. Always aiming to be the best, or perhaps with a desire to kill herself, Hiccup wasn't really sure at that point, she just ran towards the first dragon that she saw, that just happened to me a Montrous Nightmare, which only the best vikings go after. And the worse part is that she trusted no one to watch her back. Well, maybe the chief or her parents, but that's about it. The chief was with Spitelout and her parents were with each other, so off she went, alone. Without backup, it was no wonder that between dodges and ducks, swings and slashes while the Nightmare flamed himself and fired, clawed and bitten, a Gronckle was able to fire.

Hiccup was unable to look away from the fight, there was a grace to it he couldn't neither deny nor identify. He was unsure who was the more terrifying one, and he had no idea who would win either. When he saw the Gronckle though, he ran as fast as he ever ran. As the Gronckle fires, he has no time to think and just throws himself into Astrid, and they both fall to the ground. He gets up quickly when he sees both dragons going towards them. He just shoos them away with his bare hands as he had done with the Zippleback, only this time, he doesn't even have an eel. Maybe it's because he is small, maybe it's because he doesn't want to fight, and they don't really want to fight either, maybe it's the Nightfury smell, but whatever it was, they fly away, leaving a relieved Hiccup behind. That is, until he turns around and sees a fuming Astrid. He wonders for a second if he could shoo her away the same way, not a good idea if you want to keep your head. He finaly notices her burn in her entire left arm from the heat of the Gronckle shot, which he apparently didn't get her out of the entirely in time. It would leave a scar for sure, but he really didn't think that had been fun. She is walking toward him with a glare in her eyes, axe twirling in her right hand with her left arm hanging limp close to her body.

"Why did you do that?"

"Save your life? A thank you would be nice." Now he's the one with the death wish...

"Steal my glory!" She all but growled.

"Don't you need to be alive for that?"

"I'm perfectly fine of taking care of myself!"

"I know you can, but you were busy with the Nightmare, and didn't see the Gronckle, it happens." _when you go off alone like that..._

"And how did you make them both go so fast!?" At this question, she started to lift her axe threateningly, but before she could point it at his neck,

"Loved to stay and chat, but got to go help at the forge, bye!" And he bolted out of there faster than she expected.

She would continue to fight through the night, but the commotion had alerted the chief, which arrived shortly after to send her to Gothi. She would endure not fighting that night, it meant she would be better for the spar with Hiccup the following day...

* * *

Hiccup continued running, eyes in the sky trying to spot Rider. Sure enough, a little while later, the singular Nightfury screech was heard, followed by the automatic response "Nightfury! Get down!". Of course, he didn't, he hadn't before and he sure wasn't going to start when it was friendly fire. After spotting him, he tried to always keep him in his eye of sight, as well as pay attention to his surrounding, still going in the direction of the forge. When Rider starts hovering over the same place though, he feels something is wrong. He ignores it and continues on his way, but when he hears a Nightfury shot, he decides to check it out. He will go to the forge later, if he spent the whole raid in the forge, then something would be wrong.

Arriving at the scene, he sees the Nadder immediately taking off, he doen't understand why, but he focus on the twins that are on the ground, though only Ruff looks hurt. He wonders for a second how could Rider know he would need the antidote, but quickly shakes it off, it was a raid, of course it was possible for someone to get shot.

He gets to his knees next to Ruff, and sees the surprised look on Tuff's face, even if he could still see the sorrow. He hastily takes out the flask that Rider have given him, and hands it to Tuff, hoping it would be not to late. Having done what he could, he spends the rest of the raid in the forge, mending and fixing weapons, trying not to think what they were being used for.

When the last dragons are leaving the village, he finally leaves the forge and goes home. Of course, the night wouldn't be complete if he didn't run to his father that was giving order for the repairs.

"Hiccup! Where have you been?"

"In the forge where I work...?"

He could tell his father was disappointed, he couldn't really tell why though. He always said for him to get inside, did he want him to get out there now? He sighted, unknowingly mimicking his father.

"Just go home, we'll talk tomorrow, I've got this mess to clean up."

Even if he hadn''t done anything wrrong, he still felt the same as last time, when he had shot down a Nightfury, like some kind of walk of shame. How had things changed since then, and he still felt like he didn't belong, maybe it would really be better just to leave, he would certainly discuss it with Rider the next day. At least this time he didn't need an escort...

* * *

 **A/N** Finished for now, long wait but at least the chapter is slightly bigger, next chapter should be mid to late May, but can't say for sure, it will depend on inspiration and on the reviews.


	25. Fight!

**A/N** Thank you cartoonlover, though I'd say that only nobody important died lol

As you probably noticed, I changed the title and summary, is it better, worst? should i try to do another one?

I thought I would be done yesterday, but I was really tired, so here you go :)

* * *

 **Chapter 25: Fight!**

He woke up to a black world. Despite the busy evening, he hadn't had nightmares that night, so that had been a good change of pace. He tried to open his eyes only to realize they were already open, but he couldn't see a thing. In his still sleepy state, he panicked, and shot up, only to hit his head in... the sky? That was moving? Luckly, he was not a Gaul*, so instead of thinking the sky was falling, his groggy mind finally caught up with the situation. The black slowly revealed the light blue sky, and he finally got out of Toothless' wings... to a cove full of dragons. Close to him though, there was a familiar dragon with an also familiar person laying next to it. Some of the dragons probably decided to come back with her.

A rumble from his stomach reminded him that he needed breakfast, and so did Toothless. Not knowing when Hiccup would come, he beckoned Toothless to him and took off with the silence of a Nightfury. Now that Toothless could fly, he no longer had to rely on Hiccup to bring him fish.

He wasn't expecting was all the other dragons to take off with him, making quite the ruckus, though Heidi didn't stir. Looking back at the shape laying in the lone metalic dragon, he felt sorry for leaving her behind to release all the dragons by herself, which must have taken quite a while, and so she probably arrived really late, but it's not like he had had any other option. Deciding against leaving her alone, he manouver Toothless to get closer to a Changewing, asking it to stay behind, in exchange of bringing the fish to him. Getting a chance of free food, said dragon circled back to the cove.

* * *

With a full belly and a mouthfull of fish, Toothless was going back to the cove with the other dragons still following. Rider wondered why since, if anything, they should be following Windshear, it was her and Heidi that freed most of them after all. It didn't bothered him though, so he just let it be. What did bothered him though, was how close he and Toothless had become in just two days. Sure, they met already a while ago, but he had been keeping his distance then. Now, they had been forced to fly together, and they were moving so in synch, he couldn't stop the pang of guilt for his past actions.

As they got closer to the cove though, Toothless was still very much aware of the disconfort of the human on his , he prefered the little one, this one kept away from him in the beggining, but he thought they were getting along better now. Did he not enjoy flying? Determined to change his mind, he dove, but, instead of landing, he opened his mouth, leaving a trail of fish in the ground for the changewing. A Nadder nearby landed, depositing a pile of fish next to the still unmoving, but awake, Windshear. Letting out a roar for the other dragons not to follow, not that they actually could this time, he shot up, fast.

Adrenaline pumping through his veins, his hunger forgotten, he moved the pedal without thinking, while the Nightfury zigzaged through sea stacks, moving fluidly through the air in an impressive show of effortless grace and beauty that couldn't be matched by any other dragon. Up and down they went, sometimes free falling, other times with a few rolls, both dragon and human with glee on their face, forgetting everything else, they just felt completly free.

Toothless, content to make the strange but nice human happy, started heading back at a more relaxed pace, though eager to see if his human was already there. He didn't expect however, for the human to break down. How could someone could go from happy to sad so fast? He got his answer when the human started talking and he felt his own anger starting to rise. Were all humans killers afterall? And the rest was so unbelievable... He needed to be alone. Hard to do so when he couldn't fly without help, and there was both people and dragons in the cove he called home for the last couple of weeks. Instead, he decided for a run in the forest.

* * *

Hiccup heard a roar. Afraid that something was wrong, he hurried through the last patch of forest. The sight was beautifull. Many dragons, with diferent colours and species, all getting along peacefully. He had never seen some of the species before, such as a changewing, he recognized it from the book of dragons, that was lazily following a trail of fish, or what he assumed it was a Razorwhip, from what Rider had told him, with a women next to it, though she didn't notice his presence, her eyes were in the sky.

He followed her line of vision, and he was nothing short of awe to the duo in the air. He stared as they flew, and could not help but feel a little jealous that he wasn't up there. Then something changed, he noticed immediately as the elegant flight became tense.

He didn't expect, however, for them to land in the forest instead, nor a red-eyed Rider to dismount Toothless, and certainly not for Toothless running away afterwards.

* * *

With a glance behind him, he told the fleeing dragon not to go near the village, just before seeing the black silhouette disappearing among the trees. Hoping Toothless had heard it, Rider slowly made his way down to the cove, where an anxious, concerned and a little angry Hiccup was waiting alongside Heidi, who seemed to have already understood the situation. She moved away to start a fire to cook the fish for breakfast. Luckly Hiccup had brought bread and blackberries as well, since they wouldn't eat until dinner**.

"What happened?" Mostly concerned, Rider did notice the slight sharp edge to the voice, unusual to Hiccup (and himself as well, for obvious reasons).

"I-uh..." Rider couldn't stop himself from scratching his neck, even if he had tried. Taking a deep breath, he started again.

"We went fishing, but when we came back, Tootless decided to go flying some more and in the end I might have told him that I -uhm, killed a dragon before."

"Why?"

"I... was feeling guilty..."

"But he will comeback... I think... he can't fly on his own. And he just needs time to think about it, he'll come around."

His stomach decided to remind him he still hadn't eaten, and he went to the fire Heidi had started, Hiccup following closely, and he took a piece of bread, and putting a fish over the fire.

Though wanting to continue the previous conversation, Hiccup knew he had little time before the match. And without Toothless, there wasn't any point in thinking about leaving at that moment, but at least he had a chance to win more respect in the village. So, he asked his new mentor for help, and they talked as they ate.

Looking up to the sun, it was almost time for the match, so Hiccup decided to go back. That left Rider and Heidi behind to discuss what to do about dragon training, and the war. Decision made, they took up to the sky in Windshear.

* * *

Astrid was training. Not letting a little burn stop her, she was back in her usual routine of killing trees.

Throw after throw, she couldn't take out of her head what had been plaguing her for the last days, _How can he go from Hiccup to best in dragon training? Nobody gets as good as him. Especially him._ The thoughs continued to swirl around in her head, until something made her pause mid-swing. She shouldn't pause, if anything, she should have throwned harder, but the surprise was enough to make her pause for a second. As green eyes locked on blue, the next second they were gone.

She pondered her options. She could give chase, though she had no guarantee to find it, and certainly not kill it, if it was what she thought she was. Or she could try to gather a bit more knowledge. She may be a viking, but she at least knows knowledge can be power, thats why she had already read the book of dragons. Nevertheless, she would check it again to see if it had more information on the elusive dragon.

As she stared at the page, everything turned into place. _Okay, but I hit a Nightfury!_ He actually did it!

She had seen his drawings on the wall when she went to the forge, and the drawing on the book was definitelytly his. From the angle, he was observing it from that's how he got so good, observing it. That, along with the only half tailfin drawn (for such a smart boy, he could be pretty dense. Did he think all Nightfurys only had half tailfin?), probably meant it was probably a downed dragon, soon to be dead, and she wants to be the one to kill it. Who cares about dragon training, when there's a chance to kill the mythical Nightfury? A grin on her face, she would make sure to ask Hiccup about the place where he was observing it.

Shaking the traitorous thought on how was both him and herself still alive after being close to it, she left for the arena.

* * *

Astrid stood in the entrance of the arena, grinning, quite the contrast to the scowl that usually adopted her features as of late, and, for once, Hiccup wished she wasn't smiling, it didn't bode well for him. Stoick 'the Vast' stood betweem two statues, on higher ground facing his people, who were cheering and making bets, mostly those who went to the search of the nest (and returned) for Astrid versus those who watched Hiccup in dragon training.

"Alright, Alright, calm down!" Stoick's voice echoed through the arena, silencing the crowd.

"Astrid Hofferson is fighting Hiccup Hadock. There can't be ranged weapons and no deadly nor permanent crippling blows. Fight will be until knock out or surrender. Take your stances!"

The fighters headed inside the arena, Hiccup held a staff, quite rare for a Viking, but Rider had recommend it, while Astrid her her trusty axe. Since the plan wasn't to deal much damage, the axe wouldn't be able to be used to it's maximum capacities, and the staff longer reach would give the male some advantage, though Astrid definitely had more weapon proficiency and experience.

With a confident nod from Astrid, and a small one from Hiccup, Stoick spoke again:

"Fight!"

* * *

I adopted a defensible-but-not-perfect stance, hoping to trick Astrid to think I'm worse than I am, not that I'm that great, but it's good to give your opponent over-cofidence. I saw Astrid charging at me, axe held high, though I believed she wasn't going to hit me with it, most likely only with the handle, or it was just a distraction for a punch or a kick. Or she was really trying to kill me, I had to be ready for everything. I waited for her to get closer and sidesteped, lowering the staff to her feet, hoping to trip her. She jumped over it, and as she had her back to me, I had moment where I could have hit her with the other end of the staff. I couldn't bring myself to do it though, and that moment passed quickly, as she faced me once more.

Her grin was gone, though I could see it in her eyes she was enjoying this, and she had a plan. I took a step back, with my staff poiting forwards, and braced myself for another charge. I saw her getting closer, axe high again. She was eyeing my staff, and I knew she was planning on breaking it with her sturdier weapon. Hoping to pull it off, I waited with both hand on my staff what seemed like an eternity, as if I was going through slow motion, as her axe descended upon my staff. Turning my weapon, I was able to hit her handle before the head made contact, and her weapon flew out of her hands. Happy with the small win, I wasn't able to dodge in time as her now free hand flied to face. Taking a few steps back, I swung my staff forward in case she followed, as my vision cleared again. It ended up unecessary, as I saw she had disengaged and was retrieving her axe.

She aproached again, though this time she didn't ran, but calmly walked towards me. I thrusted my staff forwards again, trying to prevent her from coming closer. She moved fast. One moment she was at the end of the staff, the other she was beside it, and i had no angle to hit. She turned around, and instantly brought the staff down to her legs. I felt as my air left me and could barely breath, as she had used the momentum to kick me in the stomach. I did hit leg though, and she was on the ground, slowly getting up. I took a couple deep breaths to try to recover, but I felt little air on my lungs. I could tell something was wrong with her too though, she probably didn't have the best landing, as she fell during the kick, she had no control of the fall.

She wasn't moving as well, so I decided to take advantage of her worse mobility, I ran at her, to tacke her into the floor. I saw her eyes widen, she wasn't expecting me to atack her. She tried to move out of the way, but it was to late. Both weapons falling, she hit the floor first. As i fell into her, I felt her long, toned legs under mine, her chest was soft, and my face was inches from away from her's, her pink lips so close ... my back hit the ground with a thud. I realize that tackling hadn't been the best idea, but it was too late. She was straddling me, one arm above each of mine, and she leaned... I should headbutt her, I really should, but my mind was going to places it had no business going. I feel her breath on my ear, and a shiver goes down my spine, I feel my blood rushing south...

"Where is the Nightufury?"

All the blood came back to my head, my eyes snap open, I didn't even know that I had closed them, and then they widen impossibly...

* * *

 **A/N *** If you never read Asterix and Obelix, you can pretty much ignore this clause.

**Vikings had only two meals, dagmal (breakfast (dagmal), around 8am and dinner(náttmal), around 8pm, though the hours depending on the daylight)

Years vs weeks of practise, you didn't think Hiccup would win, did you? It's not over though :) Again, let me know what you thought of the chapter, thank you!


	26. Revelations

**A/N** **Reviews** : A big thx to **AvatarHiccup** -though Im not looking for a revolution, I do hope for open-mindness and less hate overall- and to **Slithersong** for the lovely reviews.

* * *

 **Chapter26: Revelations**

I flipped him over easily. After the sparring I expected more resistence, but apparently he is still weak. I can hear the crowd cheering. Not for me though. For him. I can feel my blood boiling, since when do vikings support the loser? Even though my rational side was saying that they were relieved dragon training hadn't been a fluke, that their Heir could actually fight and not just move his bare hands and somehow the dragons fell. I know why though, and now is the perfect moment to get the last piece of information. I will get back the Hofferson's honor and my name will be marked through viking history as the slayer of the legendary Nightfury. _For uncle Finn!_

With the scariest glare I could muster, one even Snotlout didn't see often, I asked, in a whisper, but not less intimidating:

"Where is the Nightfury?"

It was almost comical the way his eyes widened, but that was not a moment to laugh. It was only a second later that I understood the full extention of his surprise. A familiar whistle reached my ears, and I had my answer. I had started to get up when the shot hit the cover of the arena. Dust filled the air and next thing I know, I feel something heavy against my ribs, pushing me off Hiccup and rolling on the floor. I felt pain all over, but I tried to get up and it was only scrapes and bruises, nothing broken. I looked around, trying to spot my axe, but I couldn't see anything. I heard a groan and I suddenly remembered Hiccup was in the arena as well. His prowess in dragon training didn't even come to mind, or my anger, he was a fellow viking who couldn't protect himself and I couldn't leave him to die, so I ignored the pain and slowly crept forward again in his direction, crunched low to be harder to spot, my eyes cringing with the dust while searching for Hiccup and the beast.

The dust was slowly settling, and I finally could see Hiccup's shape, so I rushed forward. Then I saw the dragon. It wasn't big, smaller than a Nadder or a Nightmare, but the kick I received earlier told me it was strong. I didn't know how fast it was on the ground, but I didn't want to find out when weaponless. Too late. It was fast. Before I knew it, I was pinned to the ground with a paw over my chest. I saw death staring me in the face, in the shape two angry green eyes, mouth open, I could see a purple blast forming in his throat.

In a place like berk, you don't grow up without severeal near death experiences, yesterday was proof. But, a missed blast or a claw, or even a axe or sword, doesn't give you time to think. Now, now I was hopeless, and I knew I was about to die, instead of knowing I had almost died, and it's quite different. I should be happy, I was going to die a warrior's death. Honor. Valhalla. I would probably see uncle again. But I wasn't. I was afraid. I was even afraid to admit that I was afraid, but it was much more than that. Mostly, I was afraid to die alone. I never told my parents I loved them, not since I was five and started to train, because I was a viking. I never hang out with anyone, too busy practising to be a warrior. Now I was going to die, and honor wouldn't protect me. All that was left was how others remembered me, and I was sure it was nothing good, nothing except one less axe to fight. I told myself that I was going to change. I was going to protect Berk, but I was going to do so alongside friends. And if someone was better than me, it only means Berk is better defended. Yet it mattered not, for it was too late. I could see the fury in it's eyes, it was going to kill me. And there was nothing I could do.

A scream took me from my epiphany. And from the blast of the beast. My brain just jumped from one epiphany to another. Hiccup didn't observe the dragon, he somehow controlled it. No, Hiccup was just as surprised to see the dragon as I did. Yet it still obeyed Hiccup? It came on its own, rushing in when Hiccup was in trouble. Were they... friends? But it was a dragon... On the other hand, it was Hiccup. If anyone was going to be friends with a dragon, it was going to be him. Did that mean that the dragon has... feelings? Consciousness? The confused look the dragon was giving Hiccup said yes. 300 years of viking history said no. Confused, I didn't even realize my parents were in front of me until I felt strong arms pulling me into a hug. Once I realized it was my parents, for once, I didn't have a problem hugging them back. As my hearbeat slowly calmed down again, I was able to see Fishlegs holding Hiccup down from going to the dragon. They were friends for the last few weeks, did he know? I also saw as the Nightfury was forcefully led to the dragon pens, and it looked... sad? The guilt I could've felt was muted because he had just tried to kill me. It was over now, but I wasn't going to forget it. Any of it.

* * *

"I should have known, I should have seen the signs!"

Stoick was pacing in the Great Hall, after dragging Hiccup all the way from the arena, and, for all the times the young viking had been blamed for destruction, this was the maddest he had seen his fahther. If he wasn't heard before, there was no chance he was going to now. Still, he could only try.

"Dad..."

To which Stoick continued as he hadn't even said anything.

"We had a deal!"

"A very one sided deal... Ugh, it's all so messed up."

"So everything in the ring... A trick?! A lie!?"

"I screwed up. I should have told you before now. Take this out on me, be mad at me, but please... just don't hurt Toothless."

"The dragon!? That's what you're worried about!? Not Astrid it almost killed?!"

"He was just protecting me! He's not dangerous."

"They've killed hundreds of us!"

It was supposed to be private, but by now the shouts could be heard through the whole island.

"And we've killed thousand of them! They defend themselves, that's all! They raid us because they have to! If they don't bring enough food back, they'll be eaten themselves. Rider said there's this..."

"Rider!? He's an Outcast!"

"No, he's not, he even saved a family from them before coming back!"

"Coming back!?" He's in Berk!?"

"Did I say Berk? I meant... uhh..."

But Stoick wasn't listening anymore. Not that he ever truly had. Determination in his eyes, he set foot for the door. Hiccup pleaded one more time. It was not meant to be. The next words would stay in his mind a long time. He had accepted he wasn't a viking. He wasn't expecting being disowned though, he just stood frozen on the ground with a broken heart. He lost everything. Toothless. His father. And now, who knows what would happen if they found Rider and the cove full of dragons. The door slammed shut. Rider. He was still there. No, he had not lost everything yet. He bolted to the door, determined to warn him, it shouldn't be too hard when he knew the path to the cove blindsided, while the vikings had to search the entire forest. As he opened the doors, he did not, however, expect to see his father speeding through the air.

* * *

Stoick 'The Vast' was not having a good day. It started great, his son holding his own against the young Hofferson, the crowd cheering, but then it all came tumbling down from there. His son, friends with dragons and Outcats, yet he couldn't help regreting disowning him. All that he had to remember her for, he had promised her he would protect him, and maybe it was his fault, if he had paid more attention, been more present, he could have prevented it. His step faltered, but he made up his mind, he had Outcats to catch, then he would deal with Hiccup-his son. If he didn't get grabbed from the air, that is. So lost in his thoughts, not to mention dragon raid during the day was unheard of, he didn't even notice a metallic dragon aproaching from above. He didn't recognize the species, but he did recognize the woman on top of it.

"You! Let me go!"

The raven haired woman smiled and his eyes widened.

"My pleasure! Windshear, drop!"

He was _not_ afraid. He screamed because he was... furious! Yep, furious!

"Windshear, catch!"

It was a short ride, he was still catching his breath when he was dropped again, this time on top of a seastack, the dragon landing after him. His hand reached for his hammer automaticly, but then the woman spoke:

"Drop it, or we'll fly away and leave you here."

Pausing for a second and looking around, he swallowed his anger and begrudgingly dropped the weapon to the floor.

"Where are you taking me!?"

She didn't answer. He paced through the small aerea, trying to find a way out and not loosing his pacience before he did, but his pacience wasn't much and was growing thinner by the minute, while she just sat next to the silver beast, relaxed as if it couldn't kill her at any moment.

After a couple of minutes though, a thunder of dragons* was seen in the distance. And he clearly recognized the black shapen leading it. And the two people on it's back.

The Nightfury landed gracefully and both passengers dismounted, while the other dragons hovered above. Not for the first time, he did not know how to aproach his son, specially now that he had just dismounted a dragon, as was fidgeting in his place. Dragons, who took his wife. He was torn between caring for his son and anger at him, which ended up as frustration. Frustrated, he couldn't help but march to Rider, intent to punch him, but he was met with a black shape and a roar instead.

"Stoick."

Behind the black devil, Rider's voice was firm, though not completly unkind. He continued after a grunt of acknolegment from the large man.

"Apologize."

Rider wasn't sure if it was for his own benefit or Hiccup's, but he was feeling guilty. It was his fault Hiccup was disowned, and he was determined to make it right. Stoick knew what Rider was talking about, and it wasn't about what had just happened. Did Rider actually care for his son? He couldn't fight a someone else while fighing himself as well though, so, for once, he conceded.

"I'm sorry, son. For everything."

The smile on his son's face was worth the swallowed pride.

"I'm sorry too, Dad."

"But why? They took your mother!"

"So that no one elses mother has to die."

Stoick was a little taken aback, but he was about to answer when Rider saw his queu.

"Let's go, you can talk more when we arrive."

"Arrive where?" Father and son asked at the same time, and a small smile formed on their lips.

"It's a suprise" Rider answered with amusement.

"Heidi."

With a nod, she took off, and a Rumblehorn landed on the vacated space.

"You can ride him, or you can continue how you came here."

"I will not ride those devils!"

* * *

They were flying for a few hours, and Stoick was not amused, dangling in the Rumblehorn strong paws. Rider had taken off with Toothless, but soon jumped to Windshear, leaving Hiccup and his father flying side-by-side in an unconfortable silence, while Heidi was using the time to finally tell Rider what happened after he left to deal with the raid, how the freed dragons helped her free the other dragons, the shared ride with Heather where she was able to talk with her younger self and get her horn back, the awkward conversation in which they decided that Heather would still live with her adoptive parents, but would move to Berserker Island for her to met her brother and Oswald to be able to help and stay in touch, to finally coming back, when some of the dragons decided going with her.

Finally, huge shards of glass could be seen. Even after 20 years, it was easily recognizable as the place his mother led him to after his first, crazy, eye-opening flight. They aproached with apreension, but Rider hoped the dragons traveling with them would be enough to grant them safe passage.

They navigated through the tunnels, and shortly after the group entered a big clearing, where a woman was resting against a dragon, next to a fire, slowly eating fish. Her eyes flicked up and she choked. Rider had a flashback of his own mother choking on her fish when he told her his name was Hiccup, and he was reminded once again that was _not_ his family. He embraced Heidi tighter, who in turn leaned backwards, further into his embrace, putting her own arms over his, giving him the confort he so desperately needed at that moment, nudging Winshear to turn around to give the others some privacy. Stoick could only stare, slackjawed, as he landed less than gracefully in the ground, Hiccup was still non-the-wiser.

"Stoick...?"

* * *

 **A/N** *Inheritance Cycle (I am also a fan, also don't own lol), calls a group of dragons a thunder, and I thought, why not?

I will not have much time this month, I might be able to write, I might not, either way, I tried to finish this chapter early to compensate.

So, less romantic, but more effective as a life-changing moment for Astrid lol Let me know what you think of the chapter!


	27. Taken by a dragon

**AN** : I did not expect to take this long since I'm on vacation, I'm sorry, but leaving early and coming home late, even in vacation is tiring. I still haven't seen the new season, telling myself I had to finish this first before watching as another motivator, besides the wonderfull reviews after the (now removed) AN :)

AvatarHiccup: Glad you continue to enjoy the story, unless something really bad happens, I will continue to write, even if it takes a little longer, I hate it when other authors abandon the fics(especially when they do it without saying anything).

cartoonlover: Im not going to do spoilers haha

Ghost dragon master: Glad I managed to surprise you in a good way ^^ Though I dont see Astrid cheating, I could see her in a diferent story marrying for honour, there were many loveless arranged marriages either way.

* * *

 **Chaper 27: Taken by a... dragon**

Rider watched from the sky as Hiccup fought. Noboy looked to the skies during the day, and a lone dragon didn't do much noise. He knew it was hard on him to fight Astrid, but he was faring well for such a short time practising while she had years of training. He had a bad feeling when Astrid leaned over Hiccup, as there was something more to it, and a high-pitched scream only added to it, and then smoke covered the arena and he was blind to what was going on. After what felt like hours later, he watched Stoick drag Hiccup out of the arena while Toothless was being led to the dragon pens. It felt like torture, he was useless once again, and it brought the images of burning ships in and out of his vision. Luckly not for long, as the Vikings were all following Stoick, hoping to eavesdrop, with Mildew at the front hoping to get something to rally up the village, and a plan made him sober up from the day-nightmare. A sole viking remained, looking at the cages as if they held some sort of mystery. Taking deep breaths to calm down, Rider could finally act, whispering to Heidi who was having the same thought, and starting to descend quietly. As they got closer, he quickly identified the viking, but that put no stop to his plan, and a few exhilarating flying second later, he was jumping off Windshear with a roll to slow down and soften the roughly two meter fall.

Distracted at having an unkown dragon soar above him, with a passenger no less, he didn't notice someone was behind him until he blacked out, though he could still hear a vaguely familiar voice saying "Sorry, Gobber."

Rider rushed forward, wasting no time to free all the dragons, cautiously staying out of their way least they think he was freeing them for Dragon Training, leaving the cell where he could hear struggling for last, knowing it was the latest adition. Maybe it would have helped him free the others, but he wanted time, time he wouldn't have if he had to rush for the others cells right after. He finally pushed up the log locking the door that he most wanted and dreaded to open at the same time, to reveal a still muzzled and chained Nightfury, with the prosthetic tailfin missing, the Hoolingans weren't taking risks with the deadliest dragon known. It was looking at him with with acidic green eyes, and when Rider took a step forward, a growl was heard. But he paused only a second before continuing to free Toothless, he knew that it wasn't only for him but because he was cornered, and that he deserved it eithar way. It wouldn't stop him from freeing the special dragon.

He took the chains first in case it would be necessary to move, and finally took the muzzle. Dragon and Human stared at each other, green eyes on green eyes, trying to somehow read each other, to see if it could forgive, and if it could be forgiven. Rider moved first, turning away, closing his eyes and raising his hand once more.

Toothless knew. He knew it was how he was raised, how he changed, but he was still angry. When Rider lifted his hand though, he was reminded that despite it all, despite all the blood splattered between vikings and dragons, Rider had trusted him, and was trusting him once again. And there was no doubt that he trusted Rider back when he closed his eyes and his scaly snout finally made contact with the soft hand. Reopening their eyes, they both saw Gobber standing there, mouth open, forming an perfect 'O'. thinking quickly, Rider got on Toothless' back, while the viking seem to shake himself, raising his axe-hand and charging. Tothless snarled and got ready to fire, but Rider instead told him to charge as well.

Viking and Dragon in battle again, going against each other. Gobber drew back the axe. Tothless lept...right over Gobber, then starting running in full sprint. Gobber turned around, only to see the Dragon and Rider halfway through the bridge. But why did the Offspring of Lighting and Death itself ran away? With help, against only one viking? And certainly not going for the kill. He started walking after him... because it was the only way out of there. Though not bothered by his leg anymore after decades to cope, he knew he was slower and had no hope to catch up, and not sure he wanted to. The only sure thing was that man wasn't an Outcast after all... or rather hadn't been before.

Stoping for a second at the end of the bridge, Toothless saw the villagers at the plaza close to the Hall. Hoping everyone would be too dristacted to notice them, Toothless continued the run swifly through the forest's edge until they were hiding behind a tree close to the building... except a certain blonde was just leaving her house, where she had gone to bandage her wounds.

Not even a minute had passed for Toothless to cath his breath when the words coming from the house struck him. Not that they were directed at him, but he felt that not only they were even more applied to him, but it was his fault Hiccup was disowned and disgraced. He knew it was a possibility from the moment they set Toothless free, but he had always hoped peace was possible in the village. Even if his mother had given up, she had wanted to stop the fighting, and that gave him hope that more vikings would want it too. Now, he made it even worse for Hiccup than it had been so far, when he had wanted to make it better.

The doors opened and the huge figure of Stoick 'The Vast' exited, faltering in his step for once in his life, realization of what he had done dawning on him. And suddenly no search was necessary, as he was flying through the air, way to surprised, then angry, to fully apreciate the spectacular view from soaring through the sky, even if held by tallons.

Hiccup finally step trough the door, broken but with a purpose, and Rider wasted no time telling Toothless to go. Lucky thing too, because he heard the thunk of a weapon hitting the tree where he had been only a second before. Tothless roared, turning to the threat, an wide-eyed Astrid realizing that she had gone after them alone, where she had just promised herself to fight alongside other vikings, and the reasoning no one was with her didn't seem as correct as she was weaponless and facing death for the second time in that day. As hopeless as it was, specially still battered from the fight, she prepared to duck or roll as she heard the dragon turn to her and roar loudly, turning every eye that was in the plaza, including Hiccup to them, but Rider just shook his head at her and spoke something to the NightFury she couldn't hear, and next thing she knew, Rider and Hiccup were both on the dragon, running to, and then through, the other side of the forest. And she had just survived an angry NightFury, twice, because of one outcast, and one Outcast. Shaking her head, she retrieved her axe-and went to find Fishlegs.

* * *

The run to the cove was quiet, both men in thought and busy dodging tree branches, Hiccup a little less sucessfully even though he was at the back. Once there, they dismounted with grace born from experience. Hiccup turned to Rider, but before he could ask anything, Rider was telling him to fit in the extra tail fin, and they would speak in the air.

They took off again, this time Hiccup at the front to control the fin, while the other dragons were following them into the air.

"I'm sorry!" they both said at the same time, and a smile tugged at their lips.

"I..uh.. may have let it slip you were on the island." But Rider was unconcerned, more worried about Hiccup.

"It's fine. I..." Hiccup interruped his apology, stressing over what could have happened, had his father started the search.

"But you could have been caught! And ..." The gentle embrace had him tense before relaxing. He handn't been hugged in a long time, and the ones before, even if they made him feel loved, it always felt like they were squeezing the life out of him. But now, he just felt confortable and cared about.

"It's ok. And I'm really sorry about your father.. uh.."

"You mean not my father? Disowned, remember?" Hiccup snarked.

Rider knew that at least _this_ he hand't been through, and Hiccup had every reason to be angry, but he did know that even with all their flaws, Hiccup would miss his tribe, especially his dad, as he did, and some spur of the moment words wouldn't change that, though it did need to be fixed before the hate and resentment started to grow. And so he wasted no time in demanding an apology once they landed. With that taken care of, they took of again, with a small smile at seeing the big viking dangling helpless from the burly dragon's paws. Taking off with Tothless again, he then decided to let them have some more awkard father-son time, jumping into nothing for the silver dragon behind them to catch him, which it did easily, and passing Toothless since he was the one who knew the way, until an icy formation came into view...

* * *

"Stoick...?"

Her first instict was to run, but her legs wouldn't responde, and once she laid her eyes on the small shape jumping of a dragon, a Nighfury no less, all she could do was stand there, and the stoick man himself didn't seem to be faring much better, while Hiccup just looked between the two adults with confusion, though he did notice Rider and Heidi went missing as soon as they arrived.

After a few stony minutes, Valka slowly aproaches her son, raised hand as if aproaching a dragon, making Hiccup recoil, and shocking Stoick with her actics.

"Hiccup..." She almost murmurs, taking a small step forward, hand almost reaching his face.

"Should I..." He takes a step backwards, still lost, and unconfortable with the woman's actions. "Should I know you?"

"No. You were only a babe... but a mother never forgets."

He looks at his father, who nods in confirmation, but who seems to unable to comprehend what's happening.

"But... everyone said you were dead! Taken by a..." He finally understands, looking at the strange owl-like dragon who was silently and carefully observing the exchange. "...dragon."

"I always pleaded to stop the fighting, to find another answer... but no listended. On the night I... You father had just left to fight the raid, and I heard something upstairs. I rushed in to save you, but what I saw was proof of everything I believed in! This wasn't a vicious beast, but an intelligent, gentle creature, whose soul reflected my own. Then your father rushed in to save us... and startled the dragon, so he took me and we were gone..."

"H-How did you surive?"

"Oh, Cloudjumper never meant to harm me. He must've thought I belonged here..."

Finally shocked out of his sturpor, Stoick finally reacts.

"Belong here!? What about me? Our son!?"

"It-it broke my heart to stay away, but I believe it would be better if I did..."

"You know, if the dragon were really 'beasts', then she wouldn't even have had a chance to return?"

Rider shows up, landing next to them and letting Heidi dismount before getting off himself. He had given them some time, and they couldn't be there forever, they could talk more later.

"Who are you!? How did you find us? Are you working for Drago?" The stranger put Valka on alert, helding her staff ofensively, and Cloudjumper goes to stand near her, battle ready.

Stoick pales as Drago is mentioned, and many of the dragons around growl, some because of Drago's name, and others, because of the conflict, including Toothles and Windshear, and by now all dragons are alert. A low but reverbating growl is heard throughout the cavern, and suddenly all dragons calm down, leaving Stoick confused.

"My name is Rider and this is Heidi, Miss Valka, and no, we would nver work for that madman."

Valka remains suspicious, even if the Hunters had found her place, there was no way they knew who she was... Unless they heard about her being taken away, Stormcutters are rare enough for a smart one to make a conection. Though improbable, and against the feeling she had, she could think of nothing else that explained it. So she turedagain to the Hooligans for answers:

"How do you know them?"

"They showed up on the island a couple of weeks ago." Stoick responded stiffly, not quite confortable nor satisfied with the answers Valka had given so far.

The women wasted no time getting on her dragon to do a lap around the island, for the answer Stoick had given had done nothing to sooth her worries. If they weren't hunters, better... but she wasn't taking risks, and she didn't know who else they could be. She relaxed a little when she didn't see any ships or men, but it was short lived when she returned... and nobody was there. She mentally scolded herself for leaving the could-be hunters alone, while telling Cloudjumper to find them. If they had separated, it would have been harder, but she found them quickly, looking at the powefull Bewildersbeast, and speaking. Blood boiling, she atacks...

 _"...We need to kill, it would solve everything." She hears Rider say. After a long pause, Stoick answers... "Aye..."_

* * *

 **AN** : I actually had first planned to end this in the same time that the other, but after so long with that cliffie I though it would be mean to end in the same spote, so i changed the cliffie haha. I believe the reunion would be diferent from htty2, because it was both stoick and hiccup at once, stoick still has a 'completly viking' mind, and theres the extra 2 future characters as well, which along with the fact they found her and not the other way around, makes her more suspicious (if you noticed/remember, in the movie even after hiccup shows up in tootless saying berk changed, she doesnt believe him.


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